Scientists discovered that memory formation isn’t limited to the brain. Non-brain cells can activate memory genes, responding to signals.

In this study, the scientists simulated the process of spaced learning by examining two types of non-brain human cells — one from nerve tissue and one from kidney tissue — in a laboratory setting.

These cells were exposed to varying patterns of chemical signals, akin to the exposure of brain cells to neurotransmitter patterns when we learn new information.

The intriguing part? These non-brain cells also switched on a “memory gene” – the same gene that brain cells activate when they detect information patterns and reorganize their connections to form memories.

  • Cataphract@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    I’m all for implications but I think a little higher level of standards should be practiced since this is c/science.

    The title is “misleading” because they’re not talking about visual/conscious mind memory as you’re doing here.

    These non-brain cells also switched on a “memory gene” – the same gene that brain cells activate when they detect information patterns and reorganize their connections to form memories… "it suggests that in the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain — for example, consider what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose or consider what a cancer cell remembers about the pattern of chemotherapy.”

    Furthermore, you’ve jumped onto anecdotal evidence and have declared it Empirical with your linked study

    A literature review was performed to explore accounts of personality changes following heart transplantation … Further research is recommended.

    That level of evidence would mean anyone claiming body transfers, alien abductions, past lives memories, etc etc would all be empirical data we must now scientifically accept.

    I don’t see how you’re linking the two studies with the implied “It’s more than that”. The original study from OP is declaring nothing about actual memories that we’re “consciously using” being stored in other parts of the body. It’s stating they believe cells have “memory mechanisms” to better function, like a processor getting it’s own memory cache (that data storage is used for it’s processing purpose and isn’t included with your harddrive access).

    They are a little deceiving/misleading with the article as well,

    The goal of the research was straightforward — to investigate if non-brain cells contribute to memory… They ingeniously engineered the non-brain cells to generate a glowing protein, which indicated whether the memory gene was active or dormant… Not only does this research on non-brain cells introduce fresh perspectives to study memory, but it also holds promise for potential health-related benefits.

    They tested a gene by bombarding cells with chemical cocktails, showing the gene can be activated. It’s a giant leap to then say we have empirical data that we store memories throughout our bodies.