Zid-Zu

[Zid-Zu @ZidZupad]

@elonmusk @cremieuxrecueil @elonmusk

[Shining Science @ShiningScience]

A 10-year-old child's experiment proved that memories can be passed down through generations.

It all began when Jo Nagai, a second-grader from Kobe, Japan, noticed his hand-raised swallowtail butterflies seemed to recognize him, while wild ones flew away.

Determined to find a scientific answer, he reached out to Georgetown University entomologist Dr. Martha Weiss, who had famously demonstrated that moths can retain memories through the chaotic cellular breakdown of metamorphosis.

Inspired by her work, Jo proposed replicating her study on butterflies, leading to an extraordinary cross-continental collaboration. Using a home-designed setup, Jo trained caterpillars to associate a mild vibration with the scent of lavender.

Astoundingly, after their brains were completely rebuilt in their chrysalis, 70 percent of the adult butterflies still avoided the lavender scent—proving their memories survived the transformation.

But the most shocking discovery occurred when Jo bred these trained insects.

Without ever experiencing the vibration themselves, both the offspring and the grandchildren of the trained butterflies inherited an instinctual aversion to the lavender scent. At just ten years old, Jo documented these revolutionary findings in a 33-page paper and presented them alongside Dr. Weiss at the International Congress of Entomology in Kobe. This extraordinary discovery of transgenerational memory not only challenges traditional understandings of genetics and inheritance but also highlights how the curiosity of a child can disrupt the boundaries of modern science.

source: Upworthy. (2026). Ten-year-old butterfly researcher discovers that memories can be passed down through generations.