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Times are tough, but it’s not all gloomy… Opinion piece by Distinguished Professor Cliff Abraham During my 45 years of working in Aotearoa New Zealand, there has been an extraordinary evolution in our understanding of how the nervous system operates, from the structure and function of the tiniest molecules to the activities of neural cells, to the integration across large networks of neurons and then the cognition and behaviour that they generate. Moreover, we understand neurological disease mechanisms much better than before, feeding ideas for new therapies. Progress has been hugely sped up by the amazing new technologies that now sit in a neuroscientist’s toolkit. Even though there is still much to be learned, the growth of knowledge and capability has been driven by one thing: research. Our hopes for better things to come, especially the development of effective therapies, rely on exactly the same thing: research, and more of it. How can we ensure that neuroscience and neurological research really thrive in this country? Simply, there needs to be enough money to support the innovative, groundbreaking ideas that our community of researchers in Aotearoa have to offer. continued next page » Keeping the brain healthy: Cliff enjoys exploring nature through mountain biking. It’s more likely due to external factors – stress, possible long COVID effects, and especially information overload. People are exposed to huge amounts of information but aren’t necessarily paying sufficient attention, processing deeply, or rehearsing it. Without those steps, memories simply don’t stick. When we “lose” a memory, is it gone forever? There are two main possibilities. One is that the memory was never properly stored in the first place – it didn’t consolidate, so it’s effectively gone. The other is that the memory is still there but difficult to retrieve. That’s often the case when you can’t recall a name, but then recognise it immediately when someone says it. I like to think of memory as a roomwith many doors – the more entry points you have, the easier it is to access. That’s why deeper processing helps. How reliable are our memories? Memories are not perfectly reliable. They’re not like files stored on a computer that you can retrieve unchanged. Even when a memory is first formed, the brain is interpreting and filtering what’s happening. Over time, as we add new experiences, those same networks are modified. So, recall can shift. That’s why, for example, a single eyewitness account isn’t always reliable. Memory is shaped, updated, and sometimes distorted over time. What role does stress play in memory? There’s a classic principle called the Yerkes-Dodson law: performance follows an inverted U-shape with stress. Too little stress and performance is poor. Amoderate level of stress is actually optimal. But too much stress impairs both the storage of memories and the ability to retrieve them. So, the goal isn’t to eliminate stress altogether, but to keep it in that middle ground where the brain works best. What can people do to keep their memory sharp? People often turn to things like Sudoku or brain training games, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’ve been doing the same puzzle for years, you’re probably just getting better at that specific task rather than improving your brain more broadly. What really helps is learning new things. That’s what drives the formation of new connections in the brain. Activities that are more dynamic – that involve challenge, interaction, or novelty – tend to have a greater impact. Interestingly, such activities improve brain health generally as well. So, it’s less about doing one thing repeatedly, and more about continuing to stretch your brain in different ways. What gives you hope for the future of neuroscience and brain disease? We’ve made real progress, particularly in understanding the biology of diseases like Alzheimer’s and developing therapies that can target things like plaque buildup. Some of these approaches are beginning to show effects, which is encouraging. But what we’re also learning is that these diseases are incredibly complex. Removing one feature of the disease doesn’t necessarily stop it, because other processes – like cell death – could still be occurring. What gives me hope is that we now have the tools to study these processes in much greater detail than ever before. That means we can start to develop more targeted and effective treatments over time. There’s no quick fix, but progress is definitely being made. “There’s no quick fix, but progress is definitely being made.” 8 Headlines 9 Headlines