8 Basic Functions That Humans Totally Fail At

Despite having big old heads stuffed with big old brains, many of us still forget why we went into a room on a regular basis. Even if you think your memory is pretty good, there are lots of example of other animals that are still way better. You know that phrase "an elephant never forgets"? All too true.

For example, chimps have been shown to have extremely powerful "eidetic memory" (sometimes called photographic memory) and are able to recall a detailed image almost perfectly, despite having only seen it for a few seconds. Elephants are able to keep track of up to 30 family members at once, whereas anyone who has had to watch a group of kids will know that all you have to do is glance at your watch, and they'll be playing in traffic and sticking knives in power outlets in no time. That's not to mention the countless creatures that can remember the exactly location of buried food months later.

Perhaps we can use the excuse that animals don't have to remember their great aunt Mabel's birthday, or what time little Timmy's clarinet lesson finishes. As for the "forgetting why you came in here" thing, scientists reckon it has something to do with crossing a threshold that sort of "resets" your brain as you cross an event boundary. The idea is that now you're in a different "environment" you'll need a different set of skills and memories. All very interesting, but it doesn't stop it being annoying as hell.