Scientists apparently 'stumbled' across a mechanism in the brain that may help explain how memory works. With those secrets in hand scientists think that memory loss reversal could be imminent. Excerpts from the article in the Independent follow:
Scientists performing experimental brain surgery on a man aged 50
have stumbled across a mechanism that could unlock how memory works.
The accidental breakthrough came during an experiment originally
intended to suppress the obese man's appetite, using the increasingly
successful technique of deep-brain stimulation.
Electrodes were pushed
into the man's brain and stimulated with an electric current. Instead
of losing appetite, the patient instead had an intense experience of
déjà vu. He recalled, in intricate detail, a scene from 30 years
earlier. More tests showed his ability to learn was dramatically
improved when the current was switched on and his brain stimulated.
Scientists
are now applying the technique in the first trial of the treatment in
patients with Alzheimer's disease. If successful, it could offer hope
to sufferers from the degenerative condition, which affects 450,000
people in Britain alone, by providing a "pacemaker" for the brain.
What do you think? Will memory loss be effectively and efficiently reversed within the next 15 years?
