Making Memories

February 22, 2008

A new strain of genetically engineered mice has allowed researchers to pinpoint, for the first time, the precise cellular connections that form as a memory is created. By tracing a protein tagged to glow fluorescent green as it migrates through individual neurons, from the cell body out through the branching dendrites, the researchers could see exactly which synapses–connections to other neurons–were involved when the mice learned to fear an electric shock. (Technology Review)