Chickadee

Medical school year-end examination is no place for sissies. Inasmuch as the event is the final hurdle to overcome before a student can add the title "Dr." in front of their name, this has haunted many doctors-to-be, year after year.

If, however, I am the examiner instead of being the candidate, I would say this is probably good way to learn medicine. Student examination is for students. Yes and no. It's also to benefit teachers, because we are all vulnerable. A cardiologist might forget most of the lessons taught by a neurologist. A kidney disease specialist might need to brush up the knowledge in digestive system. Who won't?

One of my favorite stories about brain's use-it-or-lose-it hard disc space is scientific study of birds' memory. You've probably heard that our feathered friends somehow remember exactly where thousands of different clumps of seeds are buried without a single yellow sticky note. Incredible memory, huh? In one fascinating study of chickadees, however, wild-caught birds lost a staggering 23 percent of their hippocampal volume just five weeks after being brought into captivity. Caged birds had less need to remember and track down cached seeds than their wild counterparts, and then ended up with shriveled brains. 

Specialist doctors, by the same token, can be "caged" in our own turf, and literally lose our head. We'd better challenge the idle hippocampus before it shrinks too much.