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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
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He also did an experiment where he subjected butterflies to an unpleasant smell so they learned to avoid it. Not only did the butterflies avoid it but their offspring avoided it too. And those butterflies offspring, down several generations.
It's really groundbreaking science. Is it inherited memory? I don't think science has an explanation for how it could be possible.
The same thing happens with rodents. They gave lady rodents a lemon smell (citruis isn’t pleasant for them) and it caused them to have a kink for lemon smell for like 3 generations. Crazy stuff.
As for an explanation, Epigenetics is where you want to look. Its a fairly new field, few dozen years old, and it studies methylation of DNA. Methylation (addition of a methyl group to the exposed end of DNA) or demethylation (removal of a methyl group) happens in response to experiences while alive, and changes how genes are expressed. Doesn't change the DNA itself, but because the methyl groups are chemically bonded to the DNA some of them carry through the reproductive process. This means some of those changes are passed down. The epigenome isnt passed down completely, about half-2/3 of it is reset between generations, iirc, but what is passed down can cause stuff like this “inherited memory”.
The epigenome is really neat, and as far as we know, everything with DNA has one. In humans, for just one example tjat we know of, it can impact fat storage. If a person lives through starvation conditions, the bodies of their offspring will prefer to pack on weight because they think they are being born into famine. When researchers studied descendants of major famines (starting with those born during the famine), they found that those methylation points didn't reset for 3-4 generations. Thats insane! Thats a hundred years! Its also why as identical twins age, they can start to look more and more different, and they -can- actually be DNA matched if you have the tools to look at the epigenome, because no two adults will have the same lived experiences.
Someone should tell Adrian Tchaikovsky because wasn't that one of the things in children of Time wasn't that one of the abilities of the spiders? Now I got to go reread that book.
Imo, this was the coolest concept in the original Assassin's Creed. The idea that skills and memories were "embedded" into our DNA and could be unlocked.
Makes me wonder where memories are stored. Maybe it's more complicated than we think it is
Memories are stored in the balls
Woooooosh
?
It's morphic resonance according to Rupert Sheldrake. Very legit science guy, trust me.
The "also" is unnecessary, that's the experiment he did.
It's not mentioned in the post. He didn't plan it as part of his original experiment. After his experiment was a success he noticed that his family all had migraines. He decided to try to test if memories could be inherited. It was a separate test the following year with new caterpillars.
Edit: typo
What was the original experiment again?
Testing weather caterpillars retain memory when they metamorphicize into butterflies
Oh, its in the title... My mind automatically translated it to the second experiment cause thats the most interesting one. Why would the post not mention it?