Nothing changes on New Year’s but the date, and that only because of arbitrary accommodation of astronomy to Roman festivals, politics and bureaucratic convenience. But no matter; arbitrary or not, it’s a good occasion for us to make some changes. A time for self-centering.

My father in his last years was tentatively diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s. I never believed it. Now, new research on the human genome and, among other things, how canaries learn new songs brings us a little closer to understanding how memory works, and why it doesn’t.