A closer look

In 1953, surgeons tried curing Henry Molaison's seizures by casually vacuuming out his hippocampus. It worked, kind of. He stopped having debilitating seizures but permanently lost the ability to form new memories. Every time he ate a meal or met a friend, it was the first time all over again. H.M. became the most studied patient in medical history, proving memory isn't just scattered brain dust, but relies on very specific hardware we shouldn't just chop out.