1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi, 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,039 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and this is a 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: classic brain Stuff episode. You know, for a show called 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, we don't spend a whole lot of time 5 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: talking about the brain. The show got its name because 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: the original host and writer, who you might have heard 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: on earlier episodes, was a guy named Marshall Brain, not 8 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: because of any dedication to brain related content. But in 9 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: this one we get into some strange research being done 10 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: with snails and memory and transferring memories from one animal 11 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: to another. Hey, brain stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here, memories 12 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: are made by experience. For instance, you know that you 13 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: like donuts because you've had possibly hundreds of delicious donuts 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: in your lifetime. But what if you could have fond 15 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: memories of donuts, not because you've ever had one before, 16 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: but because somebody slipped you a transplanted donut memory. No, 17 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: Jim Care is not in this movie, and it's not 18 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: a movie. It's science. A team of researchers at U 19 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: c l A has been the first to successfully transplant 20 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: memory from one organism into another. The study published in 21 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: issue of in euro the online journal of the Society 22 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: for Neuroscience reports their success in using the genetic molecule 23 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: ribonucleic acid, or RNA, to transplant a memory from one 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: marine scale into another. The research team gave the memory 25 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: donor snails a series of mild electric shocks to their 26 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: tails over the course of two days. When threatened in 27 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: this way, the snails retracted the fleshy flaps on the 28 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: sides of their bodies called parapodia. Afterwards, when the researchers 29 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: so much as tapped these snails, they withdrew their parapodia 30 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: four around fifty seconds. And let's be frank here, these 31 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: c snails are not particularly smart. They don't even have 32 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: the type of nervous system that involves a brain. But 33 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: the trauma of getting repeatedly shocked on the butt led 34 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: them to become sense tized, which is a simple type 35 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: of memory. By contrast, a control group of snails that 36 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: never received the series of shocks only retracted their parapodia 37 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,399 Speaker 1: for about a second after being tapped by the researchers. 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: And as one of my colleagues would say, here's where 39 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: it gets crazy. Next, the sciencests extracted rona from the 40 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: sensitized snails and injected it into seven snails that had 41 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: not received shocks. Afterward, when tapped, these snails pulled in 42 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: their parapodia for an average of forty seconds. David Glandsman, 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: senior author of the study and professor of Integrative biology, 44 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: Physiology and Neurobiology at U c l A, said in 45 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: a press release, it's as though we transferred the memory. 46 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: The researchers went on to put RNA from shocked snails 47 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: into petree dishes containing bundles of neurons from snails that 48 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: had not received the shocks. They found that this resulted 49 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: in the neurons getting extremely excited when bathed in a 50 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: chemical messenger that suggested an electric shock. Neurons from the 51 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: unsensitized snails did not become near is excited. The research 52 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: team concluded that this ability from memory to be transferred 53 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: from one snail to another through r and A suggests 54 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: that we know less than we think about where memories 55 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: are stored. It's been assumed until recently that they are 56 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: kept in synapses, of which each neuron contains thousands A. 57 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: Glensman said, if memories were stored at synapsies, there's no 58 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: way Our experiment would have worked. Instead, He suggests they 59 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: might be kept in the nucleus of neurons. But this 60 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: isn't just about annoying snails. The study authors believe this 61 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: research could soon help patients with Alzheimer's disease or post 62 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: traumatic stress disorder. Today's episode is based on the article 63 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: Eternal Sunshine of the Snail Mind on housetof Works dot com, 64 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: written by Jesselyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I 65 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, 66 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts 67 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio. Visit the I heart Radio app, 68 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.