Putting mice into hibernation causes a major loss of synapses

Ars Technica reports on a new experiment that put mice into a hibernation-like state, erasing more than half of their synapses — yet the mice apparently kept their memories. The research, published in Science, used a technique that activates a hibernation circuit in the brain, specifically a group of neurons called Q neurons in the hypothalamus. The finding challenges the leading hypothesis that memory is stored in the physical connections between neurons, since those connections are constantly changing. It suggests memory can survive even when the neural hardware it's supposed to sit on is largely wiped away.

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