These synapses number about one quadrillion, and are extremely important for storing information and other memories. The main mechanism through which they do this is Long-Term Potentiation ( LTP ).
In Long Term Potentiation, repeated stimulation of a particular pattern of neurons/synapses strengthens the synaptic signal, both by increasing the amount of neurotransmitters and by increasing the number of receptors on the post-synaptic neuron. As you can see in the diagram, both of these have occurred after repeated stimulation of that particular synapse.
Essentially, the brain is able to store information by the strengthening and weakening of synapses - Synaptic plasticity.
Data can also be stored by changing the very shape of the synapse itself, or synapsing with new neurons and forming new connections.
A lot about how the brain stores and consolidates data is not known, however. We do know that long-term memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus, where LTP takes place. In this stage, they are susceptible to decay, and must be repeatedly consolidated in order to be stored properly. At some point of time, the memories/data are transferred to various parts of the cerebral cortex, a process that is thought to happen during sleep. However, the exact mechanisms underlying this process, and the way memories are represented across the billions of synapses in our brain, is still one of the great mysteries of neuroscience.
In terms of storing data for a shorter period of time, the brain does it a different way. If you have to remember a phone number for enough time to call it, it will fly as quickly out of your head as it went into it.
The most popular view on short-term memory is that it results from signaling patterns circulating in "recurrent feedback loops" within neural circuits on the scale of a 1 millimeter or so of brain tissue, but this too is the subject of ongoing research.
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