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Tag Archives: Memory
Spinal Fluid From Young Mice Sharpened Memories of Older Rodents
Researchers identified a protein in the fluid that could boost the cognition of aging animals — and might lead to future treatments for people.
Virtual Reality Therapy Could Give Relief to Seniors
Some care facilities are giving older adults a way to visit their pasts to boost their well-being.
Covid on TV, in Movies and in Books: What Will the ‘Covid Plot’ Be?
We have neither a shared language nor a shared understanding of what we’ve just been through. What will the “Covid plot” be in the story we tell of this time?
‘Death Cleaning’: A Reckoning With Clutter, Grief and Memories
These letters are among the more than 500 responses from readers to our request for personal stories about dealing with their own lifetime accumulation of possessions or that of a loved one.
How Your Sense of Direction Is Shaped by Where You Grew Up
Childhood environments shape people’s navigational skills, researchers reported. The findings one day may lead to better tests for early dementia.
We Will Forget Much of the Pandemic. That’s a Good Thing.
Remembering too much, too vividly can negatively impact mental health.
Covid May Cause Changes in the Brain, New Study Finds
Brain scans before and after infection showed more loss of gray matter and tissue damage, mostly in areas related to smell, in people who had Covid than in those who did not.
Exercise Can Build Up Your Brain. Air Pollution May Negate Those Benefits.
People who worked out in even moderately polluted air did not show the kinds of brain improvements tied to a lower risk of dementia.
When Dementia Strikes at an Early Age
Dementia in a person in their 30s, 40s or 50s poses special challenges, starting with getting a diagnosis.
32 Years After Civil War, Mundane Moments Trigger Awful Memories
Cards. Candles. Sunsets. For this New York Times correspondent and other children of Beirut in the 1980s, traumatic reminders of the war are still there in everyday activities.
Cooking Chicken Soup for Joy and Wellness
After another difficult year, finding joyful moments in cooking can feel impossible. But for our columnist Eric Kim, it’s a worthy resolution for the new year.
Cells Deep in Your Brain Place Time Stamps on Memories
Researchers are unlocking not just the “what” and “where” of a recollection but also the “when”
— Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Can an Athlete’s Blood Enhance Brainpower?
Scientists who injected idle mice with blood from athletic mice found improvements in learning and memory. The findings could have implications for Alzheimer’s research and beyond.
How Exercise May Support the Aging Brain
Simple activities like walking boost immune cells in the brain that may help to keep memory sharp and even ward off Alzheimer’s disease.
How to Enjoy the Moment
A thought experiment for finding more happiness in the everyday.
How I Got Through the Grief of Losing My Mother
Pedal, pedal, pedal, glide.
How Certain Gestures Help You Learn New Words
Researchers used headsets that release disruptive magnetic pulses to study how motor brain areas contribute to the effect
— Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Pat Martino, Jazz Guitarist Who Overcame Amnesia, Dies at 77
He was one of the genre’s most acclaimed players when brain surgery left him with no memory. But he recovered and made music for another three decades.
Could search engines be fostering some Dunning-Kruger?
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Aurich Lawson)
Many of us make jokes about how we’ve outsourced part of our brain to electronic devices. But based on a new paper by the University of Texas at Austin’s Adrian Ward, this is just a variation on something that has been happening throughout human history. No person could ever learn everything they need to know. But that’s OK, according to Ward: “No one person needs to know everything—they simply need to know who knows it.”
Over time, we’ve developed alternatives to finding the person who has the information we need, relying on things like books and other publications. The Internet simply provides electronic equivalents, right?
Not entirely, according to Ward’s latest results. Based on data he generated, it seems that search engines now return information so quickly and seamlessly that we tend to think we remembered information that we actually looked up. And that may be giving us unjustified confidence in our ability to pull facts out of our brain.
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Grada Kilomba’s Rituals of Resistance
The Portuguese artist and psychoanalyst examines postcolonial trauma in her U.S. debut in Brooklyn. The stakes are universal, she says.
What Psychology Tells Us About Self-Awareness
We know what we’re feeling, just not how and why we got here.
ECT Can Be a Good Treatment Option for Serious Depression
Electroconvulsive therapy can effectively treat depression, and is as safe as antidepressant drugs along with psychotherapy, a new analysis found.
Special Episode: What Does It Mean to ‘Never Forget’?
Twenty years after Sept. 11, a look at what we hold on to and what we choose to let go.
Our flexible processors can now use bendable RAM
Enlarge / Try doing that with your RAM. (credit: A.I. Khan and A. Daus.)
A few months ago, we brought news of a bendable CPU, termed Plastic ARM, that was built of amorphous silicon on a flexible substrate. The use cases for something like this are extremely low-powered devices that can be embedded in clothing or slapped on the surface of irregular objects, allowing them to have a small amount of autonomous computing. But to meet the low power requirements, a minimalist processor is not enough—all the components have to sip power as well. And that makes for a poor fit for traditional RAM technology, which needs power to maintain the state of the memory.
But a group from Stanford now has that covered. The researchers have built a form of flexible phase-change memory, which is closer in speed to normal RAM than flash memory but requires no power to maintain its state. And, while their work was initially focused on getting something that’s flexible to work, the principles they uncovered during their work should apply to phase-change memory in general.
A change of phase
People have made flexible forms of memory before, including flash and ferroelectric RAM, and resistive RAM can be made from materials that are also bendable. But phase-change memory has myriad advantages. It works by connecting two electrodes via a material that can form crystalline and amorphous states, depending on how quickly it’s cooled down after heating. These two states differ in how well they conduct electricity, allowing them to be distinguished.
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Twenty years after Sept. 11, a…
Twenty years after Sept. 11, a look at what we hold on to and what we choose to let go.
How Vision Loss Can Affect the Brain
A growing body of evidence suggests that when older people’s brains have to work harder to see, declines in language, memory, attention and more could follow.
How the Brain Shapes Reality and Imagination
The categories we use to describe our thinking are messed up.
Even the Worst Summer Can Be the Best Summer
Sometimes, what’s most important becomes clear only with the passage of time.
How Exercise May Help Keep Our Memory Sharp
Irisin, a hormone produced by muscles during exercise, can enter the brain and improve cognition, a mouse study suggests.
Seeking Early Signals of Dementia in Driving and Credit Scores
The pathologies underlying brain decline can begin years before symptoms emerge. Can everyday behavior provide warning?
Digital Heads Help Eyewitnesses Identify Suspects
Witnesses were more accurate when they interacted with 3-D models than when they looked at still photographs. And the models were less expensive than an in-person lineup
— Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
How Walking Can Build Up the Brain
Older men and women who walked for six months showed improvements in white matter and memory, while those who danced or did stretching exercises did not.
Did a Cuttlefish Write This?
Octopuses and squid are full of cephalopod character. But more scientists are making the case that cuttlefish hold the key to unlocking evolutionary secrets about intelligence.
The Secrets of ‘Cognitive Super-Agers’
By studying centenarians, researchers hope to develop strategies to ward off Alzheimer’s disease and slow brain aging for all of us.
How to Think Outside Your Brain
The days when we could do it all in our heads are over.
Alzheimer’s Drug Poses a Dilemma for the F.D.A.
If the agency approves it, aducanumab would be the first new Alzheimer’s treatment since 2003. Patients are desperate for new options, but some scientists say there isn’t enough evidence it works.
How to Forget Something
With effort, it’s possible to forget certain memories. Start by identifying what triggers them.
How Post-Covid Small Talk Could Be Deeper and Better
As we emerge from social isolation, there are ways to make our conversations richer and deeper.
How Spending Mistakes Can Be Early Signs of Alzheimer’s
Impulsive purchases, out-of-control spending: These behaviors can be early signs of Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive decline.
They Have Alzheimer’s. This Clinical Trial May Be a Last Hope.
In the narrow window in which patients are aware of their disease, they have sought help in clinical trials. But enrolling enough participants to make these trials count is not easy.
Daydreaming Can Be Good for You
Far from a waste of time, daydreaming might be one of the best things you can do with your free time.
Why We Romanticize the Past
Ah, the good old days. Were they really that good?
Science Plays the Long Game. But People Have Mental Health Issues Now.
I’ve reported on behavior and mental health for 20 years. As I exit, I can’t help but wonder why researchers have placed so little emphasis on helping people in distress today.
Walking and Other Aerobic Exercise May Aid the Aging Brain
Older people with mild cognitive impairment showed improvements in brain blood flow and memory after a yearlong aerobic exercise program.
‘Busy Inside,’ a New Documentary, Explores Dissociative Identity Disorder
The condition, formerly called multiple personality disorder, affects a surprising 1 percent of the population.
How Exercise Enhances Aging Brains
Sedentary, older adults who took aerobic dance classes twice a week showed improvements in brain areas critical for memory and thinking.
Why Your Brain Feels Broken
Pandemic stress and multitasking can affect memory in a real way.
Why Your Brain Feels Broken
Pandemic stress and multitasking can affect memory in a real way.
Tony Bennett Reveals He Has Alzheimer’s Disease
“He’s not the old Tony anymore,” his wife, Susan, said. “But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.”