Researchers Find Memory-Editing Chemical!
Researchers have discovered a chemical which blocks the retention of specific types of memory. (”Twelve other researchers have now independently confirmed Sacktor and Fenton’s findings — essentially resolving a fundamental question of neuroscience.”) The New York Times calls it “an open door to editing memory,” since unpleasant memories can be erased by injecting a PKMzeta inhibitor into the brain, and this may also lead to dramatic memory-improving treatments.
But is editing memory in some sense editing the self? This science magazine explores the upside — treatments for age-related memory decline and traumatic/emotionally scarring memories — but cites Elie Wiesel’s famous question. “Once forgetting has begun, where and when should it stop?”
“If human memory can be erased like a computer’s hard drive, what happens to the ‘overwritten’ memories? Is there a biochemical equivalent to disk restoration software?”
