BBC Focus - 09.2019

DISCOVERIES

ARS MISSION

e Rosalind Franklin rover

reps for launch p

DISCO SHARKS

Secrets of glow-in-the-dark

sharks revealed p

MOVIES FOR CHIMPS

Scientists run a film night

for primates p

CLOSE CALL

All the near-Earth objects

visualised p

Win rms Europe has plenty of untapped capacity p22 Immortlit or ll? A squishy creature holds the secret p

e importnce of forettin And how it can help you remember p

DISCOVERED:

THE CHEMICAL

THAT MAKES

MEMORIES

Your brain has its own box of memories. If you were to

hold it in your hand, brush off the dust and open it up,

you’d be able to pull out Polaroid snaps of your most

treasured memories. Your graduation ceremony perhaps,

[QWTYGFFKPIFC[[QWTEJKNFoUTUVYQTFUsCNNVJKPIU[QW

wouldn’t want to forget. But how does your brain keep

these memories in their crystal-clear clarity? 2

The synapse between

two nerve cells

(illustrated here) plays

a vital role in

memory formation

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