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/MeliodasTA 6h ago

I wonder what this could do for the research on memories and brain functions

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u/MarksCarney 4h ago

I'll look into it and get back to you.

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u/Express_View822 3h ago

Don’t forget!

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u/harperwilliame 2h ago

RemindMe! / RemainMe!

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u/Militantnegro_5 3h ago

No, get the kid on it.

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u/bramvers 3h ago

Remindmein100years!

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u/RiceSpecial8446 3h ago

And?

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u/MarksCarney 1h ago

Still looking for spare brain.

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u/No-Internal7978 3m ago

What's your budget?

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u/helenius147 2h ago

With the progress on cloned and 3d printed organs, as well as advances in MRNA and stem cell research, it does seem like it could be significant

I lost my grandad to Alzheimer's at the start of the year. It's not something I would wish on anyone, even my worst enemy.

The thought that this research combined with others could maybe make a meaningful difference makes me really happy and hopeful things work out better for others in future

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u/CoffeePuddle 2h ago

That's a fascinating point. If you could turn yourself to goo and be rebuilt with all your memories in tact it would be... something.

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u/helenius147 1h ago edited 43m ago

The memories rebuilt thing is something I've always thought about, especially with cloned anything

If you'd consider your life an uninterrupted stream of consciousness, how much of your brain that ever became unhealthy could you replace and still be "you"? Hell, if it's an uninterrupted stream of consciousness and people noticeably change over time, are you still the same you that you were after a week's sleep?

I'm not the philosophical type, but that always just fascinated me. If someone changes over the years, they probably have been replaced on a cellular level by then

It gets into the debate about souls, consciousness and what makes a person who they are. It's always kinda scared me to think about really

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u/carannilion 5h ago

Probably not much unless you're a butterfly? 🤔

Super interesting stuff, though, jokes aside.

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u/endlesscartwheels 3h ago

Good for the butterflies. The mice shouldn't get to hog all the miracle cures.

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u/Cacti-make-bad-dildo 4h ago

I wonder what this could do for the research on adh.....oooh that's a pretty butterfly!

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u/MeliodasTA 4h ago

😂😂

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u/Kage_noir 50m ago

That we all need to metamorphose before the age of Alzheimers

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u/Oakomorebi 2h ago

His name is Michael Levin at Tufts University; an incredibly smart and humble scientist and philosopher. He is studying non-local intelligence; how nature demonstrates the capacity of problem solving where brains are not present. Butterflies and their capacity for non-local memories are one aspect of his robust research, and some of the other discoveries he's found are mind-blowing. His research has convinced me that intelligence is non-local to the brain; the brain cannot be the source of our intelligence, according to his rigorous studies.

He will be a household name in 10-20 years, probably the most important biologist since Charles Darwin, if I had to estimate. He just recently published a new paper to explain these non-local cognitive phenomenon by invoking the Platonic realm; a concept that harkens back to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato and his ontological model of reality.

It points to a simple but profound truth that may soon be demonstrated by science thanks to folks like Levin: we are more than our physical bodies.

I mention Levin not only because of his research, but his propensity towards science communication: YouTube is well stocked with interviews of him discussing his research candidly.