671
Am I Zhuang-zhi who was just dreaming I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly who is now dreaming that I am Zhuang-zhi?
Summary: He took larvae (caterpillars), split them into two groups, and offered them sugar water and sugar water with lavender scent in it. The ones feeding on the lavender scent were then given a mild electric shock that make them vomit so they associated it with something bad. Then in their adult phase he offered the same two choices and the plain sugar water group went 50-50 to the choices whereas the shocked/lavender group went to the plain sugar water 80% of the time.
While looking into it I found references to studies on this dating back to at least 2008, studies on larval neural changes and fruit fly studies. They studied memory retention in moths also.
That is much more substantial than I expected it to be. Amazing!
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.
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.
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.
Makes me wonder where memories are stored. Maybe it's more complicated than we think it is
Memories are stored in the balls
load more comments
(3 replies)
It's morphic resonance according to Rupert Sheldrake. Very legit science guy, trust me.
load more comments
(6 replies)
When was this? Thought that got proven years ago.
you should run an experiment to prove memers forget previous news
load more comments
(3 replies)
Yah this is from 2024 I believe, studying swallowtail butterflies. Couldn’t find the paper but there is a lot of blogspam out there talking about it
10-Year-Old Discovers That Butterfly Memories Survive Metamorphosis and Can Be Inherited
We knew this though. Still ..never a bad idea to confirm with your own findings..
The fascinating thing is the caterpillar turns into goo in the pupa and still retains memories.
I'm actually flabbergasted that insects (Or whatever butterflies are) having some kind of memory over a longer time span in the first place ..... So much for how much I know about animals....
I never stop loving science and the scientific method. One of the last things that always makes me happy.
Lol. At least find the source and share information if you gonna copy a reddit post.
Lucky bastard, every time I try accessing old reddit it doesn't let me
You're better off without it. Don't turn back.
load more comments
(18 replies)
Feels like Butterflies are just self isekaiing caterpillars lol.
No link to anything at all?
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
671 points (95.3% liked)
interestingasfuck
9958 readers
836 users here now
For exceptionally interesting content
Rules:
- Posts must be interesting
- Posts must be based in reality
- No hateful content
- No harmful content
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS