--- In [email protected], hermandan0 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "Mike Hutchinson" > <mdhutch999@> wrote: > > > > The SUNY Downstate researchers reported in the August 25 issue of > > Source: SUNY Downstate Medical Center > > Date: September 3, 2006 > > > > Scientists Discover Memory Molecule > > Scientists at SUNY Downstate Medical Center have discovered a > > molecular mechanism that maintains memories in the brain. In an > > article in Science magazine, they demonstrate that by inhibiting > > the molecule they can erase long-term memories, much as you might > > erase a computer disc. > <sniP> > > Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind anyone? > Life imitates art yet again.
This whole "technology" sounds a lot to me like people trying work with the human brain using a hacksaw and a chisel for tools. I can't believe that anything truly useful (not to mention safe) can come of this. However, I do have personal experience with drugs that prevent short-term memory from forming, and I can tell you that it's a really unsettling experience. I had to have a minor operation, the kind where they push a tube with a videocam on it down your gullet and take photos along the way. One has to be awake for the operation, and being as weird as I am, I was actually looking forward to watching my own innards, real-time. But just before the operation started the doctor turned to me and said, "I'm going to start this IV drip now. It's a sedative and a mild amnesiac." The next thing I knew, I was "coming to" in a recovery room, having had two hours of my life *excised* from my brain. I was awake the whole time; one has to be to help the physicians guide the tube to the right places. But I have zero memories of the entire event. It never happened for me, subjectively. I was really *pissed* at the doctor for not telling me in advance he was going to give me this drug, and thus offering me the choice of not taking it. I don't like folks messing with my brain. But having had my short-term memory effectively erased, I can certainly believe that they could come up with some drug that could do the same thing for long-term memories. I just can't believe that anyone would be so foolish as to allow them to experiment on them, that's all. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
