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An experiment funded by the U.S. military meant to sharpen soldiers' minds for the battlefield has found a way to improve memory: by zapping subjects' brains with tiny bursts of electricity during sleep.
In a multi-year study at the University of New Mexico, volunteers received a fraction of 9-volt battery's worth of electrical stimulation to their scalps while they slept at the lab. When they woke up, they were asked to play a video game they had learned the day before. Turns out that subjects were significantly better at it after the night spent in the lab.
In episode 6 of Future You, we try the experiment, and consider its implications for the future: What will it mean when we can learn faster and remember better simply by zapping our brains? And what if someone can overwrite our memory and manipulate what's real?
The DARPA-funded research featured here wasn't the work of UNM scientists alone. A team of researchers came together like the Justice League of memory-enhancers. The California-based science and engineering lab, HRL, a team at Rutgers University Newark, the University of Southern California, Cardiff University, and the University of California-Berkeley all played roles in the multi-site project.
Our entire Future You season is dedicated to the human body and what it will be able to do in 2050. You can find the latest episodes on YouTube or npr.org/futureyou. And send us your ideas about upgrading humans by email at futureyou@npr.org or through Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
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