“Although there must be a physical limit to how many memories we can store, it is extremely large. We don’t have to worry about running out of space in our lifetime,” writes Paul Reber, professor of psychology at Northwestern University. He adds that while the brain’s exact storage capacity for memories is difficult to calculate, the number of neuron connections puts it at something like 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes).
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My Brain Is Full
"Although there must be a physical limit to how many memories we can store, it is extremely large. We don’t have to worry about running out of space in our lifetime," writes Paul Reber.
Monthly Issue
April 2026
In this monthly issue, we examine how our understanding of energy — and how we source and use it — is evolving.
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