Nature & Environment

Worms can regrow their decapitated heads

By T.K. Randall
July 11, 2013 ·  9 comments

Image Credit: CC 2.0 Stephen Houck Researchers have been investigating a small yellow worm known as a planarian that when decapitated is able to regrow its whole head. More remarkable still is the fact that it even regrows its brain which then goes on to relearn all the knowledge that it had amassed before being beheaded. Regenerative powers of this level are highly unusual in the animal kingdom.

It isn't clear exactly how the worms achieve such a feat. One theory is that the memories are stored elsewhere within its body while another suggests that memories alter the worms' nervous system which in turn influences the regrowth of the brain so that the same memories are reformed.

Source: The Verge | Comments (9)

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