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."
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2025. Donate today