Eena Kosik

Dopamine is often referred to as the ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter. Whether it is the satisfaction of a delicious meal, the thrill of success, or the drive to accomplish a goal – dopamine is central to our ability to experience pleasure, stay motivated and feel rewarded (Salamone et al., 2003; Schultz, 1997). However, it is also vital to how we learn and form lasting memories (Shohamy and Adcock, 2010; Takeuchi et al., 2016). So, how exactly does this neurotransmitter help lock memories in place?

In March 2014, a team of cosmologists made headlines around the world when they reported possible evidence for cosmic inflation – an extremely short period during which the universe rapidly expanded immediately after the Big Bang (Ade et al., 2014). However, it later emerged that some of the signal this result was based on had been produced by something seemingly quite insignificant: cosmic dust (Cowen, 2015).