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Scientists Erase Memories in Rats
If you have a hard time remembering where you left your keys, you're certainly not alone. On the other hand, remembering things like the names of your parents or your favorite flavor of ice cream should be much easier. That's because long term memory, memories of things that you learned long ago, has generally been considered to be more or less permanent. However, researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have recently managed to dispel that myth, making rats forget long-term memories. In the experiment, rats were taught that a given substance tasted bad. They learned they didn't like it, and afterwards they avoided the substance completely. However, a month later (the equivalent of a year to humans) the rats were injected with a drug to block a specific protein inside the taste cortex. Once injected, they immediately forgot that the substance was undesirable to them and they tried it again.
The scientists' theory is that an enzyme in the brain known as PKMzeta works as so-called "memory machine," keeping long-term memories alive similarly to how a backup battery in your devices keeps things like internal clocks running even if the power is cut out. The drug they created blocks this process, resulting in memories being erased.
Whether this drug can be expanded to work on things other than tastes remains to be seen, but if all goes well it might not be long before you can take a pill that will make you forget all about that Flock of Seagulls hairstyle you were trying to pull off in the '80s. At the very least, this could make every visit to the ice cream parlor a refreshing and new experience.
From Press Esc
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Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsCLARISSAAug 23rd 2007 4:17PM
THIS IS LUDACRIS, WHY NOT EXPERIMENT ON THE HUMANS SERVING LIFE IN PRISON NOT THESE POOR HELPLESS ANIMALS...AFTRE ALL THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO DESERVE THIS
Wtf.!Aug 23rd 2007 4:53PM
Wow theres someone who is living proof that peta members are psycho cannibalistic weirdos, how could you even say that. Human life>>animal
plagueAug 23rd 2007 5:31PM
Clarrisa. They do deserve it.
The Black Death was one of the worst natural disasters in history. In 1347 A.D., a great plague swept over Europe, ravaged cities causing widespread hysteria and death. One third of the population of Europe died. "The impact upon the future of England was greater than upon any other European country." (Cartwright, 1991) The primary culprits in transmitting this disease were oriental rat fleas carried on the back of black rats.
modlifecrisisAug 25th 2007 1:32PM
Forget Forgetting...I want that stuff the Israelis gave the rats to that made you beleive things tasted bad...like cake, chocolate, Ben and Jerry's...I can be in Tel Aviv Monday!
William MonifAug 31st 2007 10:20PM
This type of protein that was blocked by the drug may show how amnesia or other memory disorders might be caused.
A bump on the head or tramatic experience might affect the brain and/or biochemistry necessary for the normal memory retrieval.
Matthew J GuyetteAug 31st 2007 3:46AM
Sounds like Big Brother and the road to fascism to me.