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prove learning. That’s because as we sleep, our brains store memories and new information from the previous day. So a poor night’s sleep can hurt our ability to remember new things. Until recently, however, researchers didn’t know why. The hippo-campus, shown in a mouse, is a brain region involved in storing memories. The mouse was genetically modified with a gene that creates a green fluorescent protein that causes the neurons to glow green.
COURTESY OF HADLEY BERGSTROM/NIAAA
A group of scientists at the University of Heidelberg in Germany provided the first clues. Specific cells in the hippo campus — that region involved in storing memories — fired when mice slept, the scientists found. But the cells didn’t fire normally. Instead, electrical signals spontaneously fired near the middle of an axon, then traveled back in the direction of the cell body. In other words, the cells fired in reverse. This boosted learning. It did so by making connections between cells stronger. Again, the action sort of wired. https://youtu.be/IndSQ-8smD4
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