Word: rna
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Modified Proteins. The higher brain functions of memory and reasoning, Hyden hypothesizes, are achieved by the way the neuron alters the protein it forms. Each neuron contains millions of molecules of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Each of these molecules is chemically keyed by the arrangement of its internal building blocks. These molecules dictate, in accordance with their keys, the nature of the proteins that the neuron forms, in cooperation with the glial cells. The modified proteins are the chemical representations of thoughts...
Memory is thus the imprinting of a code on RNA molecules in millions of cells, like punch holes in a set of IBM cards. For example, an impulse caused by the ear's hearing "concert A" scurries from cell to cell until it finds those containing RNA molecules already keyed to respond to that note, and it is this chemical response that constitutes recognition of the note. The average human brain has ten billion neurons, so the number of possible permutations is astronomical. Further, said Dr. Hyden, this theory explains why neurologists have been unable to find precise centers...
Brainwasher on Tap. The next thing was to learn whether mental function can be chemically controlled. It can, said Dr. Hyden. Small doses of a new synthetic substance called tricyano-amino-propene ("triap") caused drastic changes in neuronal RNA and proteins in animals-and, according to preliminary studies...
...There is now evidence," said Hyden, "to prove that the RNA and enzyme changes are followed by an increased suggestibility in man. A defined change of functionally important substances in the brain could be used for conditioning a whole population." A police state government, he theorizes, could add such substances to tap water and brainwash the whole population at once...
...other words. RNA's genetic code, while still far from unbroken, has at least been changed...