Category: Uncategorized

INFORMATION. "One of the most interesting capabilities of living systems is processing information." http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/20/3799 View in LinkedIn

NEW BRAIN. "Planarian flatworms are a popular system for research into the molecular mechanisms that enable these complex organisms to regenerate their entire body, including the brain." https://lnkd.in/dy37eKV View in LinkedIn

REGENERATIVE EXPERT. "Freshwater planarians can perform all manner of amazing tricks when it comes to regeneration. Thomas Hunt Morgan was one of the first people to systematically study planarian regeneration in the late 19th century. Inspired by the observations of Harriet Randolph, he defined the minimal size of a fragment capable of regeneration as 1/279th of the intact animal’s volume." https://lnkd.in/deKxCqJ View in LinkedIn

EQUIVOCAL SPECIES. "This experiment intended to show that memory could be transferred chemically. The experiment was repeated with mice, fish, and rats, but it always failed to produce the same results. The perceived explanation was that rather than memory being transferred to the other animals, it was the hormones in the ingested ground animals that changed the behavior. McConnell believed that this was evidence of a chemical basis for memory, which he identified as memory RNA." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planarian View in LinkedIn

PLANARIAN VIDEO, showing this charming flatworm in action. It is dynamic, curious, and beautiful. Hardly simple. https://lnkd.in/dBvzR5N View in LinkedIn

THE CORE. "Thompson and McConnell found that if they cut the worm in two, and allowed both worms to regenerate each half would develop the light-shock reaction. In 1962, McConnell repeated the experiment, but instead of cutting the trained flatworms in two he ground them into small pieces and fed them to other flatworms. He reported that the flatworms learned to associate the bright light with a shock much faster than flatworms who had not been fed trained worms." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planarian View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE deals with a platyhelminthes called planaria, a common free-living flatworm. Remarkable for its regenerative powers, this humble creature caused a stir when a publication suggested that trained flatworms, when ground up and fed to untrained flatworms, could accelerate learning, calling for professor hamburgers. Enjoy this historical event that continues to unfold today. View in LinkedIn

LIGHT, SHOCK AND MEMORY. "In 1955, Robert Thompson and James V. McConnell conditioned planarian flatworms by pairing a bright light with an electric shock. After repeating this several times they took away the electric shock, and only exposed them to the bright light. The flatworms would react to the bright light as if they had been shocked." https://lnkd.in/diZf4tN View in LinkedIn

NOT SUFFICIENT. "Just having a small molecule that replicates itself is not … ultimately very complex." https://lnkd.in/dQu8XRT View in LinkedIn

"THIS STUNNING FINDING, suggesting that some memory may be stored outside of the head and imprinted on the new brain during regeneration, led to a myriad of subsequent associative learning studies." http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/20/3799 View in LinkedIn