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Do butterflies keep memories? A 10-year-old boy tested it
Good Good Good News • • science
Key Points:
- Jo Nagai, a young student from Kobe, Japan, began hand-raising swallowtail butterflies and noticed they sometimes returned to him after release, prompting questions about insect memory through metamorphosis.
- Nagai contacted Georgetown entomologist Dr. Martha Weiss, known for her research on moth memory, and with her guidance, conducted experiments showing that butterflies could retain learned memories from their caterpillar stage.
- His experiments demonstrated that 80% of butterflies avoided a lavender scent associated with mild shocks during their caterpillar phase, supporting the idea of memory retention across metamorphosis.
- Further research by Nagai suggested that butterflies might also pass learned memories to their offspring, a finding they plan to publish in the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society.
- At age 10, Nagai aspires to become an insect veterinarian, potentially pioneering a new field, and recently met Dr. Weiss in Japan, marking a unique mentor-student collaboration across continents.
