1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal bomb. Here, memories are made by experience. For instance, 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: you know that you like donuts because you've had possibly 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: hundreds of delicious donuts in your lifetime. But what if 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,920 Speaker 1: you could have fond memories of donuts, not because you've 6 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: ever had one before, but because somebody slipped you a 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: transplanted donut memory. No, Jim Carey is not in this movie, 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: and it's not a movie. It's science. A team of 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: researchers at u c l A has been the first 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: to successfully transplant memory from one organism into another. The study, 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,279 Speaker 1: published in issue of in euro the online journal of 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: the Society for Neuroscience, reports their success in using the 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: genetic molecule ribonucleic acid, or RNA to transplant a memory 14 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: from one marine scale into another. The research team gave 15 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: the memory donor snails a series of mild electric shocks 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: to their tails over the course of two days. When 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: threatened in this way, the snails retracted the fleshy flaps 18 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: on the sides of their bodies called parapodia. Afterwards, when 19 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: the researchers so much as tapped these snails, they withdrew 20 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: their parapodia four around fifty seconds. And let's be frank here, 21 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: these sea snails are not particularly smart. They don't even 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: have the type of nervous system that involves a brain. 23 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: But the trauma of getting repeatedly shocked on the butt 24 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: led them to become sensitized, which is a simple type 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: of memory. By contrast, a control group of snails that 26 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: never received the series of shocks only retracted their parapodia 27 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: for about a second after being tapped by the researchers. 28 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: And as one of my colleagues would say, here's where 29 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: it gets crazy. Next. The science has extracted RNA from 30 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: the sensitized snails and injected it into seven snails that 31 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: had not received shocks. Afterward, when tapped, these snails pulled 32 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: in their parapodia for an average of forty seconds. David Glandsman, 33 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: senior author of the study, professor of Integrative biology, physiology, 34 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: and neurobiology at U c l A, said in a 35 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: press release, it's as though we transferred the memory. The 36 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: researchers went on to put RNA from shocked snails into 37 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: petree dishes containing bundles of neurons from snails that had 38 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: not received the shocks. They found that this resulted in 39 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: the neurons getting extremely excited when bathed in a chemical 40 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: messenger that suggested an electric shock. Neurons from the unsensitized 41 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: snails did not become nearly as excited. The research team 42 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: concluded that this ability for memory to be transferred from 43 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: one snail to another through RNA suggests that we know 44 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: less than we think about where memories are stored. It's 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: been assumed until recently that they are kept in synapses, 46 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: of which each neuron contains thousands. A Glensman said, if 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: memories were stored at synapses, there's no way our experiment 48 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: would have worked. Instead, he suggests they might be kept 49 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: in the nucleus of neurons. But this isn't just about 50 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: annoying snails. The study authors believed this research could soon 51 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: help patients with Alzheimer's disease or post traumatic stress disorder. 52 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by 53 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: shocking topics, visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com.