Total Recall -- The future of memory.

Losing your memory is the great terror of our age. Anxious baby boomers are constantly assessing the fitness of their memories: Doc, I forgot my son's telephone number -- do I have mild cognitive impairment? Memory-related diseases are particularly alarming because they strike randomly, progress inexorably, and develop slowly enough that you know what's happening to you. Only 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, but surely 100 million of us worry about it.

A pharmaceutical truism: From great anxieties come great profits. Drug companies are pouring cash into research on memory ailments, knowing that billions await the firms that can protect memory or slow its decline. And when those drugs arrive, you can be sure the forgetful sick won't be the only customers. Drugs will migrate from the Alzheimer's victim to the elderly man with mild memory loss to the healthy middle-aged woman who just wants a mental pick-me-up.

Slate