Scientists successfully transplant memories between snails, might be possible for humans

Have you ever thought of downloading someone else’s memory into your brain? Well, this stuff is no more a science fiction. In a new study published by the scientists of University of California Los Angeles, they claim to have taking memory from one sea snail and implanting into another.

The research was conducted on sea snails because their nerves transmit impulses same way as humans do. Scientists were able to successfully able to inject memories by transferring RNA, which is a form of genetic information, from trained snails to untrained snails.

Snails were trained to curl up for about 40 to 50 seconds after receiving a shock, while untrained snails would do so for about 1 to 2 seconds. But after the RNA molecules were transferred, the untrained snails were able to show the similar reaction on receiving the shock.

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The study could provide new results on where the memories are stored physically and where they are stored. Lead Researcher, Dr. David Glanzman hopes that research could prove useful in treating degenerative brain disorders:

I think in the not-too-distant future, we could potentially use RNA to ameliorate the effects of Alzheimer’s disease or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Further Dr. Glanzman would like to research on the types of RNA that could be used to transfer memories. But such research is way far from being applied to humans just now. It would take decades to properly study this and then only we can think of implementing this on humans.

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