The hippocampus, a structure in the brain, plays a crucial role in memory formation

The hippocampus plays a central role in dreaming

It's theorized that the hippocampus—a brain structure involved with memory formation and the simulation of imagined and novel scenarios using those memories—plays a major role in dreaming. Studies of people with damaged hippocampi show that they still dream, but their dreams lack the richness of detail described by others.

Patient H.M. revealed that the hippocampus was responsible for memory formation

Henry Molaison became a landmark case in psychology after surgery removed large portions of his hippocampus, leaving him unable to form new memories. Upon his death, Molaison's brain was sliced into 2,401 sections and digitized for research.

Memory is a complex narrative constructed from real and imagined experiences

Memories start with perception and are processed in the hippocampus. Different types of memories use different brain regions, and episodic memory, which is involved in recalling one's life events, is more susceptible to decay than semantic memory, which is involved in general information.

Sharp wave ripples in the brain tag experiences for long-term memory storage

These ripples were known to quickly replay neuronal sequences during sleep for consolidation. While awake, they help the brain prioritize memories to remember, and their disruption can impair memory formation.

The brain consolidates memories during sleep

During sleep, the brain appears to process memories from the day and encode them into long-term storage. At the same time, the brain prunes old memories out of the brain that are no longer useful. Understanding this process also sheds light a various neurodegenerative diseases.

Memory exists as multiple types stored across various brain systems

Memory isn't one uniform function—it's made up of multiple systems, like declarative (facts/events) and non-declarative (skills/habits), which involve different brain areas such as the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebellum.

The limbic system drives emotion, memory, and survival instincts in the brain.

This interconnected group of brain structures—including the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and hypothalamus—processes emotional responses, regulates bodily functions, and plays a key role in memory and learning.

Sensory memory is information collected from your senses

Lasting seconds before moving into short-term memory or being forgotten, sensory memory aids in environmental awareness and navigation. Key brain regions involved include auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, visual, and olfactory cortices.

Long-term memory formation may not need short-term memory

New research shows that long-term memories can still develop even when short-term memory formation is blocked, suggesting the brain uses separate pathways for short- and long-term memory. This discovery could help scientists open new avenues for treating memory loss in diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Consistency and emotional engagement can improve the formation of memories

While sleep lets the brain re-trigger neurons associated with our experiences to cement them in long-term memory, repeating actions, like storing one's keys in the same location, can mimic these benefits. Emotionally charged memories are often ruminated upon, improving their future recall.

The 'sense' of direction comes from two strategies involving unique brain regions

Egocentric navigation utilizes the caudate nucleus and posterior parietal cortex, relying on a person's position in space to determine their direction of movement. Spatial navigation uses landscape features for orientation and is driven by the hippocampus.

ADHD impairs working memory and limits the ability to form long-term memories

While ADHD is most often recognized for producing struggles with attention and organization, these executive functions are critical for capturing the data that creates memories in the brain. Breaking data into pieces, or chunking, helps address these struggles.

How to remember everything

On average, people can remember seven different things using their working memory. To better retain all the things we need to remember, Tiago Forte developed the Second Brain method: a simple approach for immediately capturing, organizing, and storing the myriad tasks, learnings, and resources we collect throughout the day.

Playing music enhances the creation, storage, and retrieval of memories

Scans of the brains of individuals who play instruments have shown enhanced connectivity between multiple brain regions—visual, auditory, and motor cortices—and the corpus callosum, which connects the two brain hemispheres. These complex connections are strengthened through practice and then used in other activities that involve both logic and creativity. The brains of musicians also appear to give experiences multiple types of memory tags, such as audio, emotional, and conceptual, improving their processing.

Researchers use the brain's ability to edit memories to explore memory deletion

Scientists have successfully implanted false memories in mice after studying how the editing process works in the brain. Beyond potentially deleting memories in those with PTSD, upcoming research may allow clinicians to forecast the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

Synaptic plasticity allows neurons to communicate effectively and form memories

First proposed in 1949, synaptic plasticity allows the brain to adjust communication strength between neurons. This ability to change synaptic strength—either briefly or over long periods—is essential for learning and memory, with long-term synaptic plasticity forming the basis of how memories are stored.

Retrieval cues trigger memories and emotions from long-term storage

Retrieval cues can activate specific cells in a neural network, creating a cascade of neurons that collectively make up a memory. Specific cues help regulate emotions during stress by activating positive memories.

What a tiny marine worm can tell us about our brains

Meet the amphioxus, a small eel-like animal that has a lot to teach us about brain evolution. The genetic roots of our brains can be seen in these unusual creatures. This three-minute educational video focuses on the evolutionary history of the human brain through these odd little critters with a 500-million-year-old history.

These areas of the brain are hard-hit in depression—but the changes are reversible

Depressed brains can have certain characteristic changes, including an overactive amygdala, reduced hippocampus size, and changes to the thalamus and neuromodulating chemicals in the brain.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Some animals possess sensitive hearing to help pinpoint prey and map the world

Bats and dolphins produce sound to reflect off surfaces and create a mental image of their surroundings. Owls' faces are dish-shaped to help funnel sounds to their ears, including that of mice moving along leaves or snow. Pinnipeds, such as seals and walruses, hear in both air and water.

Hearing loss is linked with brain volume reductions

The brain looks different as a result of hearing loss, with reductions in brain volume overall and in specific areas, and these changes are hypothesized to impact cognition. Exactly why hearing loss alters cognition is an active area of research, but theories include that the elevated cognitive load of straining to hear affects brain power available for thinking and memory and that hearing loss leads to social isolation which boosts dementia risk.

How to remember names

Journalist Lisa Kanarek sought to become a “super-recognizer,” someone with exceptional face recognition abilities who never forgot a name. She enlisted the help of a neurosurgeon and a world record holder in memory. The experts suggested a few tips and tricks to connect names and faces and erase the need to say, "Hey, you!" again.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

The love lives of pygmy seahorses

Inch-long pygmy seahorses live fascinating lives in the Coral Triangle of Southeast Asia, where the tiny sea creatures thrive. They are one of the few species in the world where the male carries its progeny to term, in this case, after receiving an egg from the female, who keeps busy checking in on her two male mates, one of whom is always pregnant. Dive into the marine romance in this fascinating essay.

How the brain processes a calendar year

When most of us picture a calendar year, we have a foggy image in our minds of the months, in rough, calendar-like grids. But for some folks, that picture is a whole lot more clear. Around 1 percent of the population has a strange ability known as "calendar synaesthesia," which means they're able to visualize in crisp detail an elaborate calendar of the months of the year. Learn how it works here.

Why don't humans hibernate?

Hibernation is a superpower in the animal world that allows certain species to time travel from difficult times to abundance. This essay in Aeon explains this helpful natural process and why humanity's technological advancements may have hindered our ability to participate in the practice. Learn about the rising interest in human hibernation as a result of modern adversity, and if it could potentially become a reality.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.