inkbluesky

Drug can clear away one fearful memory while leaving another intact or the spotless mind is just around the corner.

A single, specific memory has been wiped from the brains of rats, leaving other recollections intact.

The study adds to our understanding of how memories are made and altered in the brain, and could help to relieve sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of the fearful memories that disrupt their lives. The results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

The brain secures memories by transferring them from short-term to long-term storage, through a process called reconsolidation. It has been shown before that this process can be interrupted with drugs. But Joseph LeDoux of the Center for Neural Science at New York University and his colleagues wanted to know how specific this interference was: could the transfer of one specific memory be meddled with without affecting others?

I couldn’t help thinking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) in which Joel (Jim Carrey) and his girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) have the memories of their relationship erased because memories of it were just too painful, only to regret it later. Something of the sentiments reminiscent of better to have loved and lost then not having loved at all and remembering the anguish that went with it. As I watched the movie I was a little torn, but ultimately thought that it is better to remember. The things that we experience and remember make us who we are. On the other hand maybe some memories are too painful as in post-traumatic stress disorder. This soldier who is Catholic has some deep feelings of guilt about participating in the Iraq invasion. Maybe its better for him considering his moral philosophy to remember. The potential for this kind of treatment presents quite a few ethical dilemmas.

empty bench 

 ”Media Matters”; by Jamison Foser

Ann Coulter’s bigotry and hostility, her public fantasies about violence against Democrats, progressives, and journalists — and those of countless others like her — demand more attention, not less. They illustrate the irrational anger that has long driven and sustained the conservative movement. (Those who insist on believing, against all available evidence, that the left is driven more by anger than the right would do well to remember that, during the 2000 Florida recount fiasco, it was the Republicans who rioted, not the Democrats.) But those who applaud Coulter can’t win or hold power on their own — there just aren’t enough angry, hate-filled voters in the country. They need the support of more rational and reasonable people, many of whom would be appalled — and no longer supportive — if the media showed them the true nature of the extremists they support.

Maybe scientists should work on inventing an audio implant that could be adjusted to tune out the hate.