So much memory research seems to involve imaging technology nowadays! If you want to know how magnetic resonance imaging works, check out this article.

I was entranced by a recent study, into the capabilities of the black-capped chickadee. Every autumn, this songbird roams a territory covering tens of square miles, gathering seeds and storing them in hundreds of hiding places. But it's not its remarkable spatial memory that's so marvellous - it's the fact that its hippocampus (a part of the brain that's crucial for so many functions, including spatial memory) expands by nearly a third during this period. It does this by growing new neurons. In the spring, it shrinks again (it's clearly not worth having that bigger brain all year round! - is there a lesson in that for us?)