Moths’ memories

Metamorphosis completely restructures a caterpillar’s wormlike body and, you would think, its brain. But caterpillars may not be so wasteful. New research shows that some of their brain cells remain intact through the supposedly annihilative process.

Scientists have long been interested in whether butterflies can remember experiences they had as caterpillars, but teasing memory from the simpler concept of familiarity is difficult, says Martha Weiss of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.