Ever wanted to get rid of a memory that holds you back or torments you? Well, you might soon be able to. In an experiment out of the films Total Recall and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, painful experiences have been erased from the brain. It is down to Tet1, a gene that overwrites old memories with new ones. The gene could treat post-traumatic stress disorder and people haunted by past experiences, researchers say. ‘If there is a way to significantly boost the expression of these genes, “extinction learning” is going to be much more active,’ said scientist Li-Huei Tsai. The team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology used mice with Tet1 and another group with the gene inhibited. Both groups were trained to fear a certain cage by giving them a mild electric shock when put inside it. When placed in the cage without getting the shock, those with Tet1 had no fear because their memory of being hurt had already been replaced.