Scientists Replicate Infamous Worm Memory Transfer Study

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentScientists are now replicating a nineteen-sixties experiment in which trained flatworms were ground up and fed to untrained flatworms, to see if memory passes along, Wired reports.

2. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentHold on. The worms ate each other and got smarter?

3. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThat was the claim.

4. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentResearcher James McConnell wrote that his first pilot study gave such unbelievable results, and he published it in his own sometimes-satirical journal, The Worm Runner's Digest.

5. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOkay, that's a launch strategy. Drop it in your own feed, let it spread, and the fans show up before the fact-checkers do.

6. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentA group led by Hartry replicated it in nineteen sixty-four, but only sort of. And some researchers said it was tissue sensitization, not memory transfer.

7. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSort of is a bold review.

8. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentHere's the catch.

9. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentWalker and Milton's nineteen sixty-six attempt failed to reproduce it, and a later review says it controlled for several confounds and is rarely mentioned. The sensational finding lasted until the worms stopped learning.

10. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentVerdict: unproven, but newer RNA experiments have been cited as support, so I'll allow the worms one more audition.

11. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the worms ate each other, the journal was partly a joke, and the only thing nobody could replicate was the part where it's real.