I got my seasonal vaccinations a few weeks ago, and when I did, they set off a suite of

biochemical activity in my body.

The end result was the formation of cells that are primed to activate my immune system if they

encounter a particular virus.

Immunologists refer to this as a memory.

In fact, the class of cells is called memory cells because they keep a biochemical record of a past experience, exposure to these viral proteins.

That's a bit of a special case and it's driven by the entire immune system, but in general,

memory is something that we think about in terms of brains and something that only whole

multicellular creatures with nervous systems do.

But why do we feel the need to lock the idea of memory into the brain? Why can't a vaccination be a traditional

memory? And can that also apply to what, say, single-celled creatures do to respond to their

environments? Or what about even individual cells in our own bodies?

Thank you. cells in our own bodies. Welcome to the Quanta podcast where we explore the frontiers of fundamental science and

math.

I'm Samir Patel, editor-in-chief of Quanta magazine.

We clearly aren't the first to bring up this question about memory.

There are some neuroscientists out there puzzling over it,

and as you might expect, actually testing whether cells themselves have a form of memory.

Science journalist and Quanta contributing writer Claire L. Evans

explored their work in a recent story called What Can a Cell Remember?

And she's here with us to talk about the piece and a little about the philosophy and sociology of

science itself. Welcome to the show, Claire. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, thank you.

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