Meehan Crist

(with Tim Requarth)

For most of the past century the scientific consensus held that the adult human brain did not produce any new neurons... Recent work now suggests that one role may be to help the brain recover from traumatic brain injury.

Young granule cells help form new memories, but as they get older they switch roles to helping recall the past. Newer granule cells pick up the slack, taking on the role of helping to form new memories.