8 yr old Jo Nagai was raising swallowtail butterflies in Kobe, Japan, when he noticed something odd. The butterflies he had tended as caterpillars seemed to recognize him. When he released them into the wild, they would fly right back to him. Was it possible they actually remembered him?

Jo wrote a letter to an entomologist at Georgetown University, Dr. Martha Weiss. He asked if she could help him design an experiment, and she said yes.

Jo trained caterpillars to associate the scent of lavender with a mild vibration. When the caterpillars became butterflies, 70% of them still avoided the scent. Their brains had been completely rebuilt during metamorphosis, yet the memory survived anyway. Then he bred them.

The offspring, which had never been trained, also avoided lavender. So did their grandchildren. Without ever experiencing the vibration, generations of butterflies inherited an aversion to lavender their grandmother had been taught to fear.

Jo presented his findings at the International Congress of Entomology in Kobe in 2024. He was 10.

A second grader wrote a letter to a Georgetown professor, and together they found evidence that butterflies can pass memories down through generations.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/ten-old-butterfly-researcher-discovers-184204801.html

#Butterflies #Science #Nature #Memory

#cuteposting https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/107638760

#cuteposting

My wake-up call today was Willow deciding to leave her bed and curl up next to my head to purr at top volume at about 6 a.m.

Since she's about 40% subwoofer by weight and has a window-rattling purr, it was impossible to sleep through but not a terrible way to wake up.

#catsofmastodon #Cat

#cuteposting

#cuteposting

https://pin.it/1kemu5rTE
#artspam

Artist: mikazuchi zeus
Media: project sekai
Source: https://twitter.com/ZEUS1858322/status/1846433899188310248

Z-чмошник ноет теперь.

#artspam #meme [source unknown]

Гугл обновил капчу

#cuteposting https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/146593513

#cuteposting https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/147123984

Необычный вид на Луну из космоса ⭐️

Кадр был сделан японским спутником Himawari-9