Cannibalism, memory and scientists with too much time on their hands

[motherengine]

sorry i just can't figure out where to post this so i came here as a default. does anyone know of any new developments in the planarian worm debate. this is concerning a series of experiments where the worms were manipulated through simple mazes with shock inducement and broken down and fed to other worms (same kind) and those worms in turn having a much easier time navigating the maze. one of the more radical theorys concerns memory transfer through rna, though as intriging as this sounds i doubt it is what is happened.

[Buffy]

I haven't read anything on this recently, but it sounds awfully Lamarckian to me. Most such tests of abilities "learned" in a parent and passed on to the next generation have been impossible to replicate and/'or have methodological problems....

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[OpenMind5]

You know mother engine, i remeber hearing about somthing like this. I will have to do some research and proding. If anyone does find results....please post 'em!

 

Op5

[Fishteacher73]

I think it could be remotely plausable if the planarian had been allowed to reproduce, then viable rna could pass to the offspring. Digestion is a nasty chemical process and I am pretty sure it would break down rna.Although I am not really familiar with the digestive processes inside the flatworm so I could be wrong...

[Theory5]

I haven't read anything on this recently, but it sounds awfully Lamarckian to me. Most such tests of abilities "learned" in a parent and passed on to the next generation have been impossible to replicate and/'or have methodological problems....

 

Cheers,

Buffy

 

Umm, Who is Lamarckian?

and It could be memory transfer, worms do have brains right? cause dont some smaller animals and insects just have some sort of nervous system? but yea it could be somthing like that. I had an idea but I doubt worms eating other worms and learning stuff doesnt have anything to do with human cannibals, huh, like how they first started eating other people? I doubt it was just for the heck of it.

Or maybe it was all just ritual stuff in the first place.

[CraigD]

does anyone know of any new developments in the planarian worm debate. this is concerning a series of experiments where the worms were manipulated through simple mazes with shock inducement and broken down and fed to other worms (same kind) and those worms in turn having a much easier time navigating the maze. one of the more radical theorys concerns memory transfer through rna, though as intriging as this sounds i doubt it is what is happened.

To the best of my knowledge, this experiment was documented in a single 1962 paper, "Memory transfer through cannibalism in planarians" by James V. McConnell. Others were unable to reproduce his results, so the research and theory was largely abandoned.

 

I’m unaware of any online copy of McConnell’s paper.