This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
We've all been there.
You park your car in a giant lot, only to come back a few hours later and have no idea where you parked.
You wander around, your arms laden with shopping bags, cursing.
Tv shows like Seinfeld milk these situations for laughs.
What the hell is this car craver?
We need a system.
It's gotta be here.
Why are they using so many colors?
The numbers go up to 40.
Maybe it's not on this level.
What?
There's four different levels.
When things like this happen in real life, you probably don't laugh or take bigger things.
You slip on the ice and you break a wrist.
Someone leaves the stove on and your house catches on fire.
Or the world suddenly and inexplicably is gripped by a major pandemic.
Cases now topping 15 million here in the US, 1.3 million of them in just the past seven days.
Jobs are lost, lives are lost.