The Beautiful Brain June Podcast: The Keepers of Memory

How does a constellation of neurons store a memory over time? Why do some memories degrade, while others always feel like they happened yesterday? Could this system of storage be selectively edited to enhance pleasurable memories and delete painful ones? (Think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, based largely on this research).

In this edition of The Beautiful Brain Podcast, host Noah Hutton interviews Todd Sacktor, a leading researcher of the mechanisms of long-term memory storage—and deletion— in the brain. Sacktor’s research investigates the activity of a class of proteins which are very active around synapses— protein kinases, which come in several varieties in the brain. His influential studies have revealed the working of one particular kinase-- PKMzeta-- which seems to be necessary for the retention of long-term memory in the brain.

In this edition of the podcast, Sacktor discusses his research and its implications on the way we understand memory storage in the brain.

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