Breakthrough Brain Research on Memory

Source: Science Daily

An entirely new model of brain activity has emerged from recent breakthrough research at the Salk Institute. Described as a “real bombshell in the field of neuroscience”, these data reveal that neurological cells may be able to encode 10 times more information than was previously thought.  Equally exciting, the new model suggests that memory encodes and stores information far more efficiently than has ever been imagined. Scientists used microscopy to create 3D nano-molecular models of the shapes and surfaces of brain tissue. Most importantly, they modeled the size and connectivity of synapses, the junctions for electrochemical activity within the brain. They discovered that synapses come in not two or three sizes, but 26. Imagine that you had an alphabet of only 3 letters- you might be able to communicate but you wouldn’t be able to make many words. But with 26 letters, you can encode and store much more. The implications for neuroscience are staggering, and may lead to far more efficient and powerful computers.