Decapitation, But Not Cannibalism, Might Transmit Memories

Earlier this year, scientists published a bizarre finding: A decapitated flatworm that grows a new head seems to retain memories from its old one. Weird—but not even close to the weirdest finding in the annals of flatworm memory research. Half a century ago, experiments by James McConnell the University of Michigan suggested memory in flatworms could be transferred through cannibalism. That’s right, one flatworm could learn the memories of another