Theodore Berger , a biomedical engineer at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), wants to understand nerve cells’ language to build a computer chip that might one day bolster the brain’s memory banks.

This brain prosthesis is a kind of implantable hippocampus (the hippocampus is a part of the brain involved in the formation of long-term memory.) The most immediate beneficiaries would be victims of stroke, Alzheimer’s and other ailments. Others might one day use such a chip to bone up on French, quantum mechanics or an F-16 flight maneuver.

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