# Alzabo elixir not so far-fetched? *The Urth list — 6 messages, 5 voices, 13 Jul 2013* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Gerry Quinn *13 Jul 2013, 16:55* http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation - Gerry Quinn --- ### Jerry Friedman *14 Jul 2013, 03:30 · in reply to Gerry Quinn* > From: Gerry Quinn > http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one lesson. That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. Jerry Friedman --- ### Andy Robertson *14 Jul 2013, 03:49 · in reply to Jerry Friedman* I heard tell it wus a duff experiment. THe worms who were fed chopped worms were on an ideal worm diet and learned faster for that reason. The controls had an inferior diet. hartshorn >> On 14/07/2013 04:30, Jerry Friedman wrote: >> From: Gerry Quinn >> >> http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation > Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces > were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one > lesson. > > That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. > > Jerry Friedman > > _______________________________________________ --- ### David Stockhoff *14 Jul 2013, 05:29 · in reply to Jerry Friedman* >> On 7/13/2013 11:30 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote: >> From: Gerry Quinn >> >> http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation > Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces > were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one > lesson. > > That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. > > Jerry Friedman I assume the connection would be that memories traditionally considered to be stored on the brain were in this case stored elsewhere in the body. That seems to be a key Wolfean conceit and one presumably necessary for the alzabo effect, unless the animal always eats the brain before it mimics its dead prey. However, there may be other ways to explain this behavior in planaria. --- ### entonio at gmail.com *14 Jul 2013, 11:23 · in reply to Gerry Quinn* Planarians can hardly be said to have brains. And they aren't worms like the ones we find in our yards. They barely have any internal structure. I don't think anything very useful can be learned from them in what concerns the way the bodies of more complex animals work. No dia 13/07/2013, ?s 17:55, "Gerry Quinn" escreveu: > > http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation > > - Gerry Quinn > _______________________________________________ --- ### Gerry Quinn *14 Jul 2013, 14:06 · in reply to David Stockhoff* From: David Stockhoff > I assume the connection would be that memories traditionally considered to > be stored on the brain were in this case stored elsewhere in the body. > That seems to be a key Wolfean conceit and one presumably necessary for > the alzabo effect, unless the animal always eats the brain before it > mimics its dead prey. However, there may be other ways to explain this > behavior in planaria. Exactly. You can't predict alien super-science without joining the dots a bit! - Gerry Quinn ---