Inflammation and Memory Formation: Unraveling the Role of TLR9

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This chapter uncovers a groundbreaking discovery in neuroscience, revealing the critical role of the protein TLR9 and inflammation in memory formation, contrary to the conventional view of inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. By knocking out TLR9 through genetic manipulation and other methods, researchers discern how it influences memory persistence and the DNA repair mechanisms within neurons, shedding light on a new pathway for enhancing memory storage and potentially addressing neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's.

In this episode:

01:28 Inflammation’s role in memory

How memories are stored is an ongoing question in neuroscience. Now researchers have found an inflammatory pathway that responds to DNA damage in neurons has a key role in the persistence of memories. How this pathway helps memories persist is unclear, but the researchers suggest that how the DNA damage is repaired may play a role. As inflammation in the brain is often associated with disease, the team were surprised by this finding, which they hope will help uncover ways to better preserve our memories, especially in the face of neurodegenerative disorders.

Research Article: Jovasevic et al.

News and Views: Innate immunity in neurons makes memories persist

08:40 Research Highlights

The effect of wind turbines on property values, and how waste wood can be used to 3D print new wooden objects.

Research Highlight: A view of wind turbines drives down home values — but only briefly

Research Highlight: Squeeze, freeze, bake: how to make 3D-printed wood that mimics the real thing

11:14 How melting ice is affecting global timekeeping

Due to variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation, the length of a day is rarely exactly 24 hours. By calculating the strength of the different factors affecting this, a researcher has shown that while Earth’s rotation is overall speeding up, this effect is being tempered by the melting of the polar ice caps. As global time kept by atomic clocks occasionally has to be altered to match Earth’s rotation, human-induced climate change may delay plans to add a negative leap-second to ensure the two align.

Research article: Agnew

News and Views: Melting ice solves leap-second problem — for now