There are some — notably my wife, known to me as She Who Resembles An Elephant Only In Her Memory — who believe that my memory is like unto an elephants. Unfortunately it’s an elephant that has been dead for six years and is currently rotting away in the elephant graveyard. To put it more simply, she’s convinced my memory stinks.
I’m not sure a– Wait. What was I talking about again? (sorry. couldn’t help myself)
Anyway, I think I might have found a way to take care of all this. Take drugs. Yep, you heard me. Take drugs. Okay, a certain specific kind of drugs, but I think you get my point.
A group of Spanish researchers reported today in Science that they may have stumbled upon a substance that could become the ultimate memory-enhancer. The group was studying a poorly-understood region of the visual cortex. They found that if they boosted production of a protein called RGS-14 (pictured) in that area of the visual cortex in mice, it dramatically affected the animals’ ability to remember objects they had seen.
Mice with the RGS-14 boost could remember objects they had seen for up to two months. Ordinarily the same mice would only be able to remember these objects for about an hour.
The researchers concluded that this region of the visual cortex, known as layer six of region V2, is responsible for creating visual memories. When the region is removed, mice can no longer remember any object they see.
Now this, if the results will translate to humans, is really very cool. Imagine taking a dose of this drug and then flipping through a textbook and then being able to remember everything that you’d just seen. Of course, it might be that you’d just remember what the page looked like and not what information was contained thereon, but, still, it’s a great idea.
It would certainly come in handy with the little dudes and their homework. Imagine if this drug worked and I could just glance through an algebra textbook and remember all the explanations. It would certainly make for an easier time than was the year where I had to relearn eighth-grade algebra.
– Richard
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yeah I want some of that too, lol