geekosystem

Got a treasured memory? It's okay to get a little sappy, we all do, whether it's that perfect night with a special someone or that dungeon crawl that finally went exactly according to plan. If you're remembering that thing right now, for the love of God, stop! It just won't be the same the next time you recall it. In research that should surprise no one, our brains are constantly betraying us, transforming our memories every time we think about them.

The means by which traces of memory are stored, engrams, have only been hypothetical, which means we did not have an idea of the actual, concrete means by which memories are stored in the brain. However, in a new study, MIT researchers used optogenics -- a combination of optical and genetic methods to control events in cells of living tissue, essentially the manipulation of cells so they're sensitive and responsive to light -- to show that memories are actually kept inside brain cells.