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.

Comparisons come almost too easily. One can rank the hype and pure star power of Michael Jackson up there with the most famous people who have ever lived. His reach was planetary in scale. His loss delivers the shock and tragic complexity of the death of Elvis Presley, John Lennon or Marilyn Monroe. But focus on Michael himself and the comparisons evaporate. This is an irreplaceable talent that sadly the world lost some time ago. By the time of his death at age 50 this week, Jackson had receded from a world that could only witness him in bizarre glimpses. Those glimpses continued all evening on television news reports showing blurry crowds and telephoto shots of ambulances. As in life, in death the best mere humans can do is get a ticket for the global stadium event.

Michael was outsized from the moment he took the stage as part of his family's irresistibly appealing Motown act. But he immediately outgrew his family; over time he became, as the King of Pop, bigger than his genre. Then, at the top of his game, he exceeded the scale of celebrity itself. In the late 80s and 90s Michael hung out with actress Elizabeth Taylor because almost no one could match his towering profile of talent and weirdness. ... Continue reading

Suppose that scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in your brain. They could make you forget a chronic fear, a traumatic loss, even a bad habit. Benedict Carey, science writer for The New York Times, joins The Takeaway with a report on researchers in Brooklyn who have created an experimental drug that helps you forget.

For more on this fascinating process, read Benedict Carey's article, Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory, in today's New York Times.

You may remember (or not!) that Lacuna Inc. has been promoting a similar process for some time:


From the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind