Dad finds hope for memory in sea slug research

There's nothing like a sea slug to get my memory going.

At least, that's the basis of research by Dr. Eric Kandel, who shared last year's Nobel Prize in medicine for figuring out what makes sea slugs remember.

He's hoping his slug research can help aging baby boomers fight memory loss.

This is big news, particularly for aging boomers who are dads.

As a dad, I'm certain I've lost plenty of memory cells watching my children grow up. They're still a long way from grown and already I'm trying to hold onto my memory.

Joni has long questioned my memory. But she attributes my memory loss more to being a husband who forgets what she said because I was too busy listening to ESPN.

But I'm convinced that parenting also taxes our memories, sometimes turning us into human slugs, an apparently poorer cousin of sea slugs.

In such a state, you regularly say, "no." By the time your children have moved out of the house, you've said no a zillion times. "Yes" is not in your memory banks unless it involves household chores.

There's plenty of memory loss associated with watching your children mess up their rooms, spill food or turn the living room into a Barbie play pen.

Kandel figures drugs can help.

But that would require approval from the Food and Drug Administration, whose bureaucrats are too busy eating pizza to have time to OK new medicines.

"Aging isn't a disease," FDA spokeswoman Laura Bradbard has said.

Maybe so, but personally I think we'd all be better off with a little memory enhancer, provided it doesn't turn us into sea slugs or long-winded politicians.

Of course, you don't have to be a parent to have memory problems.

Children, I'm convinced, have memory problems. Becca and Bailey routinely forget where they left their clothes or shoes.

Memory works better for kids if there is ice cream involved. Or toys. Children can memorize the layout of a toy store, but forget that they left their backpacks in the car.

Moms suffer from memory loss too, particularly when it comes to locating a favorite pair of shoes. But then it's hard to keep track of a dozen or more pairs of shoes scattered around the house.

Of course, memory loss isn't all bad. You don't want to remember your children's repeated ear infections, late-night visits to the hospital emergency room or major ketchup spills.

If you're a sea slug, it may be worth remembering such happenings. But most human beings would prefer to latch onto more pleasant memories.

And even scientists like Kandel get tired of slugging it out.

In the mid-1990s, he moved his focus from sea slugs to mouse brains, and in 1998 succeeded in improving the memory of mice, no doubt assuring they would remember where they left those cheese squares.

Kandel's research gives us all hope that we too can act like mice or sea slugs.

Hopefully, we'll remember to have better table manners.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.