replaying

Recalling past events – what happened, when, and where – is a skill only humans were thought to possess.This 'mental time travel' is called episodic memory, and some experts have long argued it sets us apart from other animals, in the way we can make decisions or strategize for the future based on what we've learned in the past.Yet some animal behavior experts don't think humans are unique in this regard. For decades, they have argued that all sorts of animals have episodic-like memories.Birds store food underground and…

In their hit single Year 3000, tween-friendly pop-punkers Busted sang of a future world submerged underwater, populated by triple-breasted women swimming around town “totally naked!” A lot had changed, in other words, and yet the trio’s popularity hadn’t waned. In this far-flung future, “everybody bought our seventh album” rejoiced the boys, as those of us who like to take nonsensical pop songs way too literally wondered why on earth the people of the next millennium would still be listening to them.It turns out Busted…