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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] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

It seem like they're just saying kidneys remember kidney stuff, pancreases just remember pancreas stuff, etc etc.

It's not like your kidney remembers Aunt Jean has a mole on her nose.

[–] partial_accumen 6 points 1 month ago

There is another body of research that deals with a person's behavior can be heavily influence by endocrine actions. Organs can affect current endocrine responses. So there is a suggestion here that your kidney may not remember the Aunt Jean has a mole, it may remember why it releases certain hormones which can effect how you behave.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah, but if you get someone else's kidney, it "remembers" how that body worked.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I dunno. We (both my wife and I) can and have had long conversations with my gut (when there's a rumbly in my tumbly you can hear it across a crowded room) and my gut seems to remember shit. It also has a strange fascination with cheese.

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

That sounds like a fun life/wife.

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

I am a very lucky person, and she is. It's kind of like when you have a conversation with your meowbox of an orange tabby.