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Neuroscientists in Brooklyn Erasing Memories With Drugs
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 6, 2009
Modified Apr 6, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 6, 2009
Modified Apr 6, 2009
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Researchers at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center say they've prompted rodents to forget painful memories by injecting them with a drug called ZIP, which interferes with a neural substance integral memory functions. So it's only a matter of time before you'll be able to pop a pill and forget all about that photo of the Chinese guy's tumors or Lindsay Lohan's awkward appearance with Lily Allen! The Times has a feature on the Brooklyn lab today, as part of a series on brain research. According to Dr. Todd Sacktor, mice who had previously learned to avoid an electrified area of their cage forgot all about the zap zone after a dose of ZIP, and rats forgot about their disgust for a taste that had made them sick. Sacktor believes the drug could one day be used effectively with humans, and a variant of it could also enhance memory. But Dr. Steven E. Hyman, a neurobiologist at Harvard, is urging caution: "We know that people already use smart drugs and performance enhancers of all kinds, so a substance that actually improved memory could lead to an arms race... This possibility of memory editing has enormous possibilities and raises huge ethical issues."
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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