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A University of Pittsburgh-led team has created a single-electron transistor that provides a building block for new, more powerful computer memories, advanced electronic materials, and the basic components of quantum computers. The researchers report in Nature Nanotechnology that the transistor's central component -- an island only 1.5 nanometers in diameter -- operates with the addition of only one or two electrons. That capability would make the transistor important to a range of computational applications, from ultradense memories to quantum processors, powerful devices that promise to solve problems so complex that all of the world's computers working together for billions of...

Panasonic Corp's Digital AVC Marketing Division will release a rewritable single-sided three-layer Blu-ray disc that is compatible with the Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Format and has a capacity of 100 Gbytes April 15, 2011. The company claims that it is the world's first rewritable Blu-ray disc with a capacity of 100 Gbytes. The new product is a 2x-speed recordable Blu-ray disc compatible with the BDXL Part1 Version3, and its capacity is twice as large as that of an existing single-sided two-layer Blu-ray disc (50 Gbytes). Specifically, it is possible to record about 12 hours of a terrestrial digital TV program in...

Even long after it is formed, a memory in rats can be enhanced or erased by increasing or decreasing the activity of a brain enzyme, say researchers supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health. "Our study is the first to demonstrate that, in the context of a functioning brain in a behaving animal, a single molecule, PKMzeta, is both necessary and sufficient for maintaining long-term memory," explained Todd Sacktor, of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, New York City, a grantee of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health. Sacktor, Yadin Dudai, Ph.D., of the Weizmann Institute of Science,...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents appears this week in Science Express. “When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person’s life,” says Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D., professor and director of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Our finding describing these...

Can you imagine remembering every single day of your life? That's what actress Marilu Henner says she can do. On "The Early Show" Monday, Henner -- one of only six people recognized in the world as having a rare gift called superior autobiographical memory -- explained what life is like remembering every day of her life. Henner and others with the same ability were profiled Sunday on "60 Minutes."

The two economists call their paper “Mental Retirement,” and their argument has intrigued behavioral researchers. Data from the United States, England and 11 other European countries suggest that the earlier people retire, the more quickly their memories decline. The implication, the economists and others say, is that there really seems to be something to the “use it or lose it” notion — if people want to preserve their memories and reasoning abilities, they may have to keep active. “It’s incredibly interesting and exciting,” said Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Center on Longevity at Stanford University. “It suggests that work...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — A diet rich in the plant compound luteolin reduces age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain, researchers report. Luteolin (LOOT-ee-oh-lin) is found in many plants, including carrots, peppers, celery, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile. The new study, which examined the effects of dietary luteolin in a mouse model of aging, appears in the Journal of Nutrition. The researchers focused on microglial cells, specialized immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord. Infections stimulate microglia to produce signaling molecules, called cytokines, which...

Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies). And check out the classroom. Does Junior’s learning style match the new teacher’s approach? Or the school’s philosophy? Maybe the child isn’t “a good fit” for the school. Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education research that doesn’t offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching styles surely...

Recently I upgraded the memory on my computer. It runs Windows Vista and was slow with only 1 gigabyte of memory. I had been told that 2 gigabytes were the minimum for optimum function, but I was lazy. Inertia is a property of matter, but regrettably it is also a property of people. Finally I upgraded the memory to 2 gigabytes. Everything is faster, including word processing and Web surfing. Human beings are not computers − except for bureaucrats, that is. But if we stumble along with inadequate memory, everything we do is less efficient. In particular, our knowledge of...

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s 1 p.m. on a Thursday and Dianne Bates, 40, juggles three screens. She listens to a few songs on her iPod, then taps out a quick e-mail on her iPhone and turns her attention to the high-definition television. Just another day at the gym. As Ms. Bates multitasks, she is also churning her legs in fast loops on an elliptical machine in a downtown fitness center. She is in good company. In gyms and elsewhere, people use phones and other electronic devices to get work done — and as a reliable antidote to boredom. Cellphones, which...

FINDING it difficult to revise for an exam? Help could be on its way in the form of the first non-invasive way of stimulating the brain that can boost visual memory. The technique uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in which weak electrical currents are applied to the scalp using electrodes. The method can temporarily increase or decrease activity in a specific brain region and has already been shown to boost verbal and motor skills in volunteers. Richard Chi, a PhD student at the Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney, and colleagues wanted to follow up on previous research...

I need some advice for a friend of mine from my church. Since none of you know where I go or who he is, I can protect his anonymity. He doesn't know I'm doing this. He seemed a bit upset at church this weekend, so I asked what happened. Here's what he told me: Last Tuesday, he was on Facebook. He noticed that he'd received a private message from someone he'd 'friended' about a month earlier. This woman was a high-school acquaintance, one of several he's added to his friend list in anticipation of his 30-year high school reunion coming...

In 1984, George Orwell told the story of Winston Smith, an employee in the propaganda office of a totalitarian regime. Smith's job at the fictional Ministry of Truth was to destroy photographs and alter documents, remaking the past to fit the needs of the present. But 1984 came and went, along with Soviet communism. In the age of the Internet, nobody could tamper with the past that way. Could they? Yes, we can. In fact, last week, Slate did. We took the Ministry of Truth as our model. Here's how Orwell described its work: As soon as all the corrections...

Snails on speed don't get speedier—but their supercharged brains do learn better and make memories that last much longer, a new study says. Scientists gave pond snails the amphetamine crystal meth to explore the memory-related brain processes that get humans so hooked on the drug. Human meth users experience sensations of happiness and high self-esteem that help make the drug extremely addictive. Scientists suspect that such cravings may be tied to powerful "pathological memories" that make such highs difficult to forget. "We were not trying to addict the snails," said study co-author Barbara Sorg, a biochemist at Washington State University...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A scan of brain activity can effectively read a person's mind, researchers said Thursday. British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The evidence suggests researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone. "We've been able to look at brain activity for a specific episodic memory -- to look at actual memory traces," said senior author of the study, Eleanor Maguire. "We found that...

Those who live in industrialized countries have easy access to healthy food and nutritional supplements, but magnesium deficiencies are still common. That's a problem because new research from Tel Aviv University suggests that magnesium, a key nutrient for the functioning of memory, may be even more critical than previously thought for the neurons of children and healthy brain cells in adults. Dr. Inna Slutsky of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine published results of a 5-year probe which has significant implications for the use of over-the-counter magnesium supplements.

OK OK.....I know this may seem a silly and simplistic topic/post in such an age. Still, I just wanted to share a little "trick" with my fellow FReepers that has served me very well over the years. I've taught this to many; all have been grateful. We all, especially us FReepers, take in so much information in a typical day (work, home, FR, TV, talk radio, etc.) that often it is very difficult to recall certain facts; certain information. You know that feeling...."..oh darn it, what's-his-name....I can't remember"; or "...oh you know, that movie with...ummm....dang it...". Here's the key: NEVER...

UA researchers find naps are an integral part of learning for infants, helping the developing brain retain new informationAnyone who grew up in a large family likely remembers hearing "Don't wake the baby." While it reinforces the message to older kids to keep it down, research shows that sleep also is an important part of how infants learn more about their new world. Rebecca Gomez, Richard Bootzin and Lynn Nadel in the psychology department at the University of Arizona in Tucson found that babies who are able to get in a little daytime nap are more likely to exhibit an...

Findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarterIf you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become, according to the findings. The results support previous data...

Working on someone's PC which can only handle 768MB of memory. The problem is this: crucial.com says there is a 32MB (stick?) somewhere installed in the PC, so until I find a way to disable that 32MB, I can't install one 512MB stick and another 256MB stick to equal the 768MB (because that "phantom" 32MB puts me overboard). Right now, if I put in both a 256 and a 512, it's too much memory and the screen freezes up and I get the dreaded BSOD. Any idea where crucial.com is picking up this 32MB? My guess is that it's the...