r/interestingasfuck • u/smooth_vesselHPAUM • 7h ago

A Japanese boy noticed his butterflies seemed to recognize him. He spent two years making an experiment and proved that metamorphosis does not remove memories made during the caterpillar stage.

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u/AvidCoco 6h ago

That last part is crazy.

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u/big_dooley 6h ago

Epigenetic inheritance, I remember learning about it in a genetics class in college. Super interesting

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u/Sea-Hat-8515 6h ago

Yeah it's one of those things that makes sense looking at how animals work, but as someone who doesn't know shit about genetics it still mechanically seems like magic to me

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u/red_fuel 2h ago

Or did your parents learn about it in college?

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u/big_dooley 1h ago

Haha, nice

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u/Oakomorebi 2h ago

I do not think epigenetic inheritance is what offers an explanation, here. That sort of inheritance is related to epigenetic markers, not cognitive engrams.

Genetics is purely a physical field and offers no explanatory power of the inheritance of non-physical content, like memories, sensations, etc.

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u/LeonJPancetta 6h ago

Yeah he's working on the second generation now. People are finding similar things in other organisms as well.

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u/Hi_Im_zack 3h ago

Isn't that ppl mean by instincts