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Can a Cell Remember? | Scientific American

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Humans have been understandably obsessed by our big brains and their big powers. After all, how many other species have invented ibuprofen, electric blankets and happy hour? But it may be time to take a big breath, a step back, and ask what a cell can do. I wrote recently about how Stentor, the enormous trumpet-shaped, single-celled predator, may be capable of changing its “mind.” But this is not the first or even second time free-living cells have shown signs that they possess something like cognition. It was already known that Stentor coeruleus—the swimming Stentor—is capable of “habituating” to touch; after you poke it long enough, it will stop contracting so readily, and it can remember to be less touchy for a least a few hours. No one knows how. Stentor and another ciliate called Paramecium improve their escape times from capillary tubes (the microbial version of a classic experiment with rodents called the “runway” learning paradigm) with experience, although in the case of Stent

Opinion May 28, 2021 6 min read Add Us On Google Add SciAm Can a Cell Remember? Surprisingly, there's some evidence that it can By Jennifer Frazer Paramecium bursaria. Anatoly Mikhaltsov Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) Humans have been understandably obsessed by our big brains and their big powers. After all, how many other species have invented ibuprofen, electric blankets and happy hour? But it may be time to take a big breath, a step back, and ask what a cell can do. I wrote recently about how Stentor, the enormous trumpet-shaped, single-celled predator, may be capable of changing its "mind." But

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