Hyperthymestic Syndrome: Extraordinary Memory for Daily Life Events. Darold A. Treffert, MD. There are a number of forms of extraordinary memory. There is factual memory: Kim Peek has memorized over 7600 books. There is numeric memory: Daniel Tammet memorized Pi to 22,514 digits. There is eidetic-like, photographic memory: Stephen Wiltshire memorized Rome from the air after a 45-minute helicopter ride over the city.
When a new cell is created, it must have the same library of genetic information all other cells in the body have access to. Because all the material in the new cell must come from the first cell, the original cell must make a copy of its DNA before completing the process of mitosis. These two sets of DNA only exist for as long as it takes the cell to undergo mitosis, which can be anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes in certain human cells.
Mitosis is the phase of the cell cycle where chromosomes in the nucleus are evenly divided between two cells. When the cell division process is complete, two daughter cells with identical genetic material are produced. Before a dividing cell enters mitosis, it undergoes a period of growth called interphase. Some 90 percent of a cell's time in the normal cellular cycle may be spent in interphase. G1 phase: The period prior to the synthesis of DNA. In this phase, the cell increases in mass in preparation for cell division. Note that the G in G1 represents gap and the 1 represents first, so the G1 phase is the first gap phase.â. S phase: The period during which DNA is synthesized.