NEUROSCIENTISTS THOUGHT long-term memories took weeks to form. But MIT researchers have discovered those memories can take hold in the brain much sooner. The team used a technique called optogenetics, in which light-responsive proteins are genetically inserted into brain cells, allowing researchers to activate them with lasers to find out what they do. The group trained mice with these engineered neurons to fear an electric shock and, with a blast of laser light, could spot the brain cells involved in that painful memory.
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