Time Cells Don't Really Care About Time

Published: Jan. 3, 2023, 5:15 a.m.

b'Time is woven into our personal memories. If you recall a childhood fall from a bike, your brain replays the entire episode in excruciating detail: The glimpse of wet leaves on the road ahead, that moment of weightless dread and then the painful impact. This exact sequence has been embedded into your memory thanks to some special neurons known as time cells. Science correspondent Jon Hamilton talks to Emily about these cells \\u2014 and why the label "time" cells is kind of a misnomer.

Concerned about the space-time continuum? Email us at shortwave@npr.org \\u2014 using science, we might be able to set you at ease in a future episode.

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