8 'Yeah, Science!' Moments In Film And TV

7. Total Recall - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Memory loss is one of those things that is so often depicted wrong in film and TV, that Eternal Sunshine's surprisingly subtle and relatively accurate depiction of how the brain forms memories makes a refreshing change.

Whilst we can't actually erase memories just yet, we are gaining a better understanding for how we form, retain and recall them, and it's a different picture to the "hard drive" model that used to be popular.

Eternal Sunshine's emotional themes are not just there to make compelling viewing, as it is thought that memories and emotions are almost inextricably linked. Memories are not so much little films to be replayed, but actual reconstructions of the thoughts and feelings that were felt when they were made.

The fact that Joel relives his memories as they are erased is also pretty in line with what we know about recall. It's thought that, when we remember things, our brains are actually reproducing the same neural signals that were experienced at the time, making you actually experience them again. Hypothetically, as these memories are uncovered in an erasing procedure, the brain could well experience them again - like the life flashing before the eyes before death