How can you remember what you’ve forgotten?

What happens to lost memories? Neuroscientists at MIT may have now figured out the answer. The required information appears to still exist in the brain— we just can’t access it anymore. The reason: If the formation of new proteins in the brain cells is blocked, by Alzheimer’s disease for example, then the memory can no longer be retrieved. Now researchers have managed to restore the connection between neurons and the memory in laboratory mice. The research raises the possibility of developing treatments in the future that reverse some of the memory loss that afflicts early-stage Alzheimer’s patients.