There are rigorous procedures for handling physical evidence. Why not for memory? Anyone who has watched enough crime dramas can describe many of the fundamentals of collecting and handling physical evidence. Photograph everything as it was when you found it. Wear gloves. Avoid doing anything that could contaminate the samples. And always keep notes on where you found evidence, when you collected it, how you stored it, and who had it at what time. Meticulously maintaining a “chain of custody” – a record of how evidence has been handled – helps protect the integrity of the evidence. And in case of deliberate or accidental mishandling, it helps identify whether and how much its integrity has been damaged. It’s easy to see why this is important. How can we trust DNA testing on, for example, an article of clothing found at a crime scene, if we have no idea how it was handled and stored on the way from the scene to the lab? If it was handled with bare hands (or previously used glov...