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2024-11-11

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Memory is stored in cells throughout the body, not just the brain (www.earth.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/science

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do we need to format our kidneys before becoming a donor now?

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Maybe. There are numerous reports of people having changes in personality after organ transplants.

Personality changes following heart transplantation: The role of cellular memory https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31739081/

https://www.sciencealert.com/eerie-personality-changes-sometimes-happen-after-organ-transplants

[–] Drunemeton 9 points 1 month ago

Damn, that’s interesting!

[–] Lumisal 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

To be fair, I think anyone going through something as traumatic as basically being put into stasis and having their heart cut out and and then having one reattached would change a bit simply because of the process.

I mean, you don't keep stepping on Lego bricks barefoot after you've done so, and we expect people who have had a heart ripped out and then another one reinserted to act the same?...

[–] RestrictedAccount 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Many stories like this from fecal exchanges (trans-poo-sions)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, that is also true. Many things make up the mind, and changing a major input, e.g. the microbiota that make a particular mix of short chain fatty acids and other neuro effective compounds, is going to change the cognitive outputs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

You really should affix the possible reasoning to your comment up the chain

changing a major input, e.g. the microbiota that make a particular mix of short chain fatty acids and other neuro effective compounds, is going to change the cognitive outputs.

This post is wildly running into speculation and I fear several users are taking the wrong implications that "conscious memory" is scientifically being validated as stored in the bodies several organs.