Men in Black's memory-erasing neuralyzer is one of the franchise's most iconic gadgets, and science is proving that the technology actually works. Men in Black is a pretty far-out franchise, with the series' wild alien technology presumably being far from what science is capable of today. However, Men in Black's futuristic gadgets have just gotten a step closer, as it has finally been discovered how the Neuralyzer actually works.
1997's Men in Black is an alien sci-fi film starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, with the movie being a critical and commercial success. Men in Black was so big that it ended up spawning a massive multimedia franchise, consisting of a trilogy, TV shows, theme park rides, and even a 2019 spin-off movie titled Men in Black: International. While Men in Black has a lot of beloved qualities, realism is not one of them. However, the neuralyzer's technology may not be too far away anymore.
Real Science Could Explain How The Neralyzer Works
Using a beam of light to erase memories may seem far-fetched, but now it's possible. According to Quartz, researchers at UC Davis have managed to recreate Men in Black's memory-erasing technology in an experiment on mice. The scientists would first give mice an electric shock after putting them in a cage, conditioning them to fear it. Then, using a fiber optic cable, scientists would beam light directly into their brains, targeting specific cells. After this, the researchers found that the mice were no longer afraid of the cage, signaling that they had forgotten.
According to the researchers, memory retrieval is processed in the cortex, and then the "hippocampus reproduces this pattern of activity during retrieval." By targeting specific cells in the hippocampus, the scientists hypothesized that they could prevent this reproduction, almost making it as if the memories weren't there at all. As it turns out, they were right, with the mice completely forgetting that the cage would electrically shock them.
Why Men In Black's Neuralyzers Still Aren't Real
Although Men in Black's neuralyzers are closer than ever, there are still some aspects preventing them from being real. Firstly, the technology isn't there yet. While the neuralyzers in Men in Black are essentially just handheld laser pointers, the UC Davis experiment involved wiring a fiber optic cable directly into the brain, something that just isn't practical yet. On top of that, this technology hasn't been tested on humans, with it only being confirmed to work on mice.
The real-life existence of Men in Black's neuralyzers also opens up a plethora of ethical issues. Memory erasure could wind up being a huge problem, and if the technology does develop to be as simple as the neuralyzer, erasing someone's memory without their consent could be easily done. Although having Men in Black's neuralyzers in the real world is cool, it may be better to leave the technology to science fiction.
Source: Quartz
