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Selective Neurone Death as a Possible Memory Mechanism

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Abstract

IT is a widely deplored fact that every day many thousands of our brain cells die and, unlike other types of cell, are never replaced1,2. I suggest that this may not be a purely destructive process, as is normally supposed, but may represent a mechanism for one of the brain's most constructive functions, memory or information storage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford,

    RICHARD DAWKINS

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  1. RICHARD DAWKINS
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DAWKINS, R. Selective Neurone Death as a Possible Memory Mechanism. Nature 229, 118–119 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/229118a0

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