What if you could erase any knowledge of painful experiences? This is not just the plotline of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." In reality, scientists have been working for years on figuring out how memories are stored, and how we can might be able to erase them. Todd Sacktor is a neurologist and neuroscientist, who has been working on this question at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

Whether through hours of rote memorization or mnemonic devices, there's no real "secret" behind making or keeping a memory. Conversely, the best way to forget something painful has been a source of endless cliche and conjecture — until now. New developments in the understanding of the brain have made it possible to help trauma patients erase specific memories. When a memory is formed, new linkages are held together by PKM-zeta. To undo these connections, the enzyme only needs to be blocked.