GoKawiilHarvard researchers try to replicate 1960s planarian memory-transfer experiments
A team led by Harvard neuroscientist Sam Gershman is attempting to reproduce James McConnell's 1960s claim that trained flatworms could pass learned behavior to other worms through cannibalism. Research assistant Zachary Kelso has spent months collecting wild planarians from rivers and lakes across the US because worms bought from biological supply companies failed to respond to conditioning in the lab.
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McConnell's original findings, once widely replicated, later fell into disrepute and became a cautionary tale about questionable scientific methods, so a modern, rigorous retest could help settle a decades-old controversy about memory and its biological basis. The difficulty in even obtaining worms that behave consistently suggests the original results may have depended on variables that are hard to control or reproduce, which could inform broader discussions about replication problems in science.
- Harvard's Sam Gershman lab is attempting to replicate 1960s planarian memory-transfer experiments
- Researcher Zachary Kelso collected wild worms from multiple US locations after store-bought ones failed to respond
- The original 1960s claims by James McConnell were once replicated but later became controversial in neuroscience
Source: wired.com — Claire L. Evans, 2026-10-31
Published there as: “Are Memories Transferable? Meet the Scientists Replicating an Infamous Study to Find Out”
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