Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates recently tweeted an article published in the Harvard Medical School Journal on the mechanism behind brain spatial imaging.

“I love learning about the brain. Here’s some cool brain GPS research,” he captioned the quote tweet.

The article explained how we can easily navigate through a place that we have already visited. Our brain’s built-in GPS kicks in and creates a spatial map of our surroundings.

This spatial map solidifies as a memory over days and even weeks, it said. The findings are based on a new study conducted in mice, which showed that a gene called ‘Fos’ is key to this spatial mapping.

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“This research connects the different levels of understanding to make a fairly direct connection between molecules and the functioning of behavioral and memory circuits,” he said Christopher HarveyAssociate Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.

If the results can be extrapolated to humans, it would provide crucial new information about how our brains create spatial maps.

“Ultimately, this knowledge could help scientists better understand what happens when this process breaks down, as is often the case as a result of brain injury or neurodegeneration,” the HBS article reads.

Photo: Courtesy of Red Maxwell on flickr