February 2023: Rechavi discusses inheritance of memories in a podcast

Prof. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist in the department of neurobiology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, releases a lab Podcast every Monday where he discusses science and science-based tools for everyday life.

In his recent Podcast from February 27 2023, Prof. Huberman hosted Prof. Oded Rechavi, Edmond J. Safra affiliate (Life Sciences), a professor of neurobiology, and an expert in how genes are inherited, how experience shape genes and remarkably, and how some memories of experiences can be passed via genes to offspring.

Prof. Rechavi talked about his research, which challenges long-held tenets of genetic inheritance, and the relevance of such findings to understanding key biological and psychological processes including metabolism, stress, and trauma. He described the history of the scientific exploration of the “heritability of acquired traits” and how epigenetics and RNA biology can account for some of the passage of certain experience-based memories. He discussed the importance of model organisms in scientific research and described his work on how stressors and memories can be passed through small RNA molecules to multiple generations of offspring in ways that meaningfully affect their behavior.

The Podcast gained more than 150,000 views.