Robert E. Hampson (“Dr. Rob”) was already a fan of science fiction when watching The Six Million Dollar Man stimulated his interest in the science of bionics. He earned a PhD in physiology from Wake Forest University and has spent decades studying memory encoding. He teaches neuroscience, mentors numerous students and post-docs, and trains them in communicating their science to the public (such as talking science at science fiction conventions!). Since 2015, he has written and published science fiction that often focuses on cutting-edge neuroscience and military themes.
Daily Dragon (DD): When did you know you wanted to study memory?
Robert Hampson (RH): It’s funny. I really wanted to study medicine but was really fascinated by both how the brain works and how computers work—so I tried to combine the two (bionics didn’t exist yet in 1979!) and ended up in a lab studying a part of the brain called the hippocampus. We needed lots of electronics and computers to do it. In the process, I discovered that hippocampus is important to memory (and we needed pretty sophisticated computer tools to study it) so I was hooked!
DD: Your website bio mentions the development of a “neural prosthetic to restore and/or facilitate memory?” How does something like that work?
RH: Like a computer, our brains represent information as “codes,” so we detect signals associated with information as it passes through specific brain areas. A memory prosthetic would then use the existing electrical activity patterns (of the brain) when memory works well and apply those patterns to the appropriate brain area when memory is not working. I’m now working with a team that wants to “engineer” brain tissue to do this, instead of requiring an implanted device!
DD: Your site also mentions experiments on the transfer of memory encoding from one being to another. That sounds like something out of a science fiction novel! What did your team conclude about that?
RH: It… worked… kind of. The type of memory was very simple—just a choice of left or right—and it only worked part of the time. We already knew that stimulating movement areas of the brain could affect a lab rat’s actions—but this was the first time stimulation of memory areas affected the rat’s behavior. It was imperfect, but that just showed us that there’s still a lot to learn!
DD: Are there common assumptions about memory that are just incorrect?
RH: Even scientists assume things that aren’t true. We thought each memory required its own neuron (brain cell). Then we thought memory was carried by small molecules like RNA (a favorite of science fiction authors). Now we view memory as a pattern of activity and connections between neurons.
But what most people call “bad memory” is really inattention to details. We don’t remember things because we don’t treat the process of remembering properly. Memory isn’t “state dependent” so you don’t have to take a test under the same conditions you studied. Rote memorization really works, but mnemonics and finding ways to associate information and small cues work better. “Flashbulb” memory – in which we remember fine details about what we were doing when a major event occurred (ie, what were we doing on 9/11?) isn’t actually that accurate. Even really strong, accurate memory can be altered.
DD: Did you find anything that in your studies of memory that amazed you?
RH: Yes! I predicted 30 years ago that electrical stimulation for memory wouldn’t work—then was surprised 15 years after that when it did! Now we are seeing networks of neurons growing in a culture dish that can be “programmed” to play Pong or Doom.
DD: When did you become interested in writing science fiction?
RH: I read a lot. Always did. I think I was six or seven, and my favorite book was about the sun and solar system. All through my life I would read, and then want to create my own worlds like what I’d just read. I tried to write them but never got very far. In 2008, a friend convinced me to write short stories. It still took a couple of years to figure out how to finish what I started, but I just kept writing from then on.
DD: How does your scientific background influence your creative work?
RH: I have a tendency to write either scientists or scientific settings. I am also obsessive about certain details. I figure that if a reader can look up something I mentioned (ie, it is based on something that exists today) I’d better get the details right. My internet search history is a mess, but my fiction has a lot of familiar themes, and I have used personal experience to develop a lot of my stories, such as The Moon and the Desert, my own retelling of the 70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man (based on the 1972 book Cyborg by Martin Caidin).
DD: What draws you to military science fiction?
RH: I grew up in a military town, and many of my friends had parents in the military. Now I have lots of friends in the military. Plus, I have worked on or with projects for the military in my scientific career. I write less about the military aspects (ie, combat) and more about how it affects the people involved.
DD: What was your first published work of fiction?
RH: “They Also Serve,” a short story about a trauma surgeon who is depressed because he patches up soldiers, only to have them go right back into danger and combat. It was also published under the pen name Tedd Roberts. I even wrote a sequel, “Where Angels Dare,” but the follow-up anthology never materialized. I stripped it down and submitted it to the US Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Mad Science Writing Contest. It was awarded Honorable Mention and later appeared in the original version as “Angel” in the anthology We Dare.
DD: What do you see as the difference in writing novels versus shorter forms of fiction?
RH: It’s funny; I’ve been accused of writing shorts as if they were novels. I like to develop characters, and that often takes more words than a short story allows. Aside from that, the main difference for me is time. I write in bursts, and sometimes the day job takes all of my effort. So I might write 25,000 words, then have to wait a month or more to get back to it (and spend time re-reading what I wrote). Fortunately, I outline quite heavily when writing novels. I don’t do that for shorts, but it’s necessary to keep me on track with interrupted writing time.
DD: You’ve written several shared-world works. Are there challenges or benefits unique to that form of writing?
RH: Definite challenges. If you’re in someone else’s world, you must follow their rules. There’s nothing worse than finding out that your clever plot point is not allowed by the editor! If it’s my own world, I need to provide enough info so that my contributors don’t do the same thing to me! Benefits are great, though. If I get an idea while reading someone else’s novel, and they are open to shared world, it’s fun to play. The stories in my shared world The Founder Effect created a much richer world than I could have ever created on my own.
DD: What’s a good starting point for someone who wants to check out your fiction?
RH: The Moon and the Desert. It’s the one that embodies everything I talk about here—science, fiction, military settings, and attention to detail, and it’s based on my own background.
DD: What’s next for you?
RH: In fiction, I have a zombie apocalypse book coming out April 2025 entitled Across An Ocean Of Stars. It’s in John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising shared world, and tells the tale of post-apocalyptic survival and rebuilding in my favorite setting—Hawaii. I’m also working on the sequel to The Moon and the Desert. As for science, I want to build “replacement parts for the brain,” or at least train the next generation of scientists who will do that in my place.
DD: Thank you for your time.
For more information about Dr. Rob and his work, visit his website, or check out his social media: Rob.Hampson.2 on Facebook, and @ThingyInBrainy on X.
