Have you ever wondered how your brain remembers things? Well, scientists at Cornell University have discovered something super cool about our eyes! They found out that our pupils—those little black circles in our eyes—play a big role in how we remember stuff.

Here’s what they did: Researchers studied some clever mice to see how their brains work when they learn new things. They put tiny cameras in front of the mice’s eyes to watch their pupils while they slept. They also used special tools to check what was happening inside their brains.

The scientists taught these mice fun tasks like finding treats hidden in mazes. After learning something new, when the mice took a nap, their pupils changed size! When their pupils got smaller, they were replaying and storing those new things they just learned. But when their pupils grew, they were thinking about older memories instead.

This is important because it helps prevent “catastrophic forgetting.” That’s a fancy way of saying that learning something new won’t make you forget what you already know! Imagine if learning to ride a bike made you forget how to walk—that would be silly!

The researchers discovered that these tiny moments when our pupils change size happen really fast—so fast we can’t even see them! They only last about 100 milliseconds (that’s like a blink!). During these quick moments, our brains are busy sorting out what we learned from what we already know.

This research is exciting because it can help us understand how our brains work better! It might even help scientists create ways to improve our memory or make smarter computers that can learn like us.

So next time you think about something you learned or remember a fun day at school, just remember: your pupils might be doing amazing work behind the scenes!

Image Credit: Frog Pupils, by Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay