• Question: How much memory can out brains store? E.g. a hard drive only has a specific amount of data it can hold

    Asked by Ayrton to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Kerrianne Harrington

      Kerrianne Harrington answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Interesting question! Not a brain scientist, but this is at least what I think I know… 😛

      The brain has different ways of storing information, depending on whether it is assigned to to long term or short term memory. ‘How much’ there is available, apparently we don’t have to worry about ‘filling up’ our memory according to a scientist who wrote an answer for a similar question in ‘Scientific American’ (source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-memory-capacity/ ). It’s hard to compare it to how much space is on a USB or hard drive, because our neurons work differently.

      What is also interesting though, is if you move past neurons, and go to DNA, this is just a long sequence of information! The information density of DNA is enormous compared to a USB stick! Apparently 1 gram of DNA can store 215 million gigabytes. Scientists are researching this now 🙂

    • Photo: Oli Wilson

      Oli Wilson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      By one estimate, it can store a petabyte – that’s as much as the searchable internet! (To put it another way, you’d have to buy 60+ $10,000 hard drives which each hold 16 terabytes to do the same…)
      It may not feel like your brain can hold as much information as you could ever find online, but this video explains how the scientists in the study came up with the figure. Like your brain, it’s amazing… http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zy3tdxs

    • Photo: Ed Bracey

      Ed Bracey answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      I agree with the others, no need to worry about filling up your memory banks!
      Memories are kind of strange, they change a little bit each time we remember them.
      Also, old memories, which you might think were gone forever can be reactivated by triggers – little things that remind you of a time, a person, a place.
      So I’d recommend throughout your life, saving as many of these reminders as possible, take lots of photos with the people you care about, events, and things that will remind you of happy times when you’re older!
      I take lots of photos with my friends and store them on google drive so they’re backed up for later.

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