41–46 of 46 posts
Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…
Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…
The old vision (brain = neurons => memories, rest of the body = organs which execute single or multiple functions, synchronized by the brain) is slowly fading away. We have a lot of active neurons in the digestive system, which is in fact a second brain. Same can be said for the heart which contains an autonomous neuronal system to control the cardiac function independently if need be. Notions of distributed systems…
I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I was taught this isn't actually the case at all. After a quick bit of googling, it seems that earthworms can re-grow their tail (if cut far enough down), but the other end doesn't re-grow. Flat-Worms, however are capable of entirely re-growing heads and tails from tiny pieces. https://www.livescience.com/3…
> I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would
> regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I
> was taught this isn't actually the case at all.
> In an early experiment, McConnell trained the worms à la
> Pavlov by pairing an electric shock with flashing lights.
> Eventually, the worms recoiled to the light alone. Then
> something interesting happened when he cut the worms in
> half. The head of one half of the worm grew a tail and,
> understandably, retained the memory of its training.
> Surprisingly, however, the tail, which grew a head and a
> brain, also retained the memory of its training. If a
> headless worm can regrow a memory, then where is the memory
> stored, McConnell wondered. And, if a memory can
> regenerate, could he transfer it?Earlier quoted context omitted.
The old vision (brain = neurons => memories, rest of the body = organs which execute single or multiple functions, synchronized by the brain) is slowly fading away. We have a lot of active neurons in the digestive system, which is in fact a second brain. Same can be said for the heart which contains an autonomous neuronal system to control the cardiac function independently if need be. Notions of distributed systems…
The idea has some merit, but lots and lot of trasplants are done each year since decades. Nobody has exit the hospital suddenly turning on a pianist or an expert plumber after a hand transplant. And nobody suddenly forgot the knowledge to do some specialized thing, or recognize a beloved one, after losing an arm or a leg. The kentucky fried thing (assuming that is a true history and not a fake new) could have a few s…
Regarding inherited memories, this isn't common case, nevertheless it happened in the case of transplants [0] [1]
[0] https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2016/10/15...
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03069...
I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I was taught this isn't actually the case at all. After a quick bit of googling, it seems that earthworms can re-grow their tail (if cut far enough down), but the other end doesn't re-grow. Flat-Worms, however are capable of entirely re-growing heads and tails from tiny pieces. https://www.livescience.com/3…
> I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would > regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I > was taught this isn't actually the case at all. Do you mean that you're sure that you weren't taught it, or that you're sure that it isn't the case in reality. Because the latter is easily answered by reading the article in question: > In an early experiment, McConnell trained the worms à la > Pavlo…
Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…
The most obvious explanation is that they were making a joke by picking the most greasy, unhealthy thing they could think of and had no real desire to go to KFC. "What are you going to do with your new heart?" "Clog it up just like the last one. duh."