Re: [silk] Pecular Behaviour of White Ants

["Divya" <divyasatyam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ramu asked:

>
> What infamous planarian worm experiment? If you're talking SF, the only
> sentient worms I know are the Dune sandworms.

There was this experiment conducted in the seventies (I'm foggy on the exact
reference) on a bunch of planarian worms. A group of scientists taught one
group of planarian worms to run a simple maze. When a control group of
untrained planarian worms were released into the maze, they couldn't run it,
of course. So then the scientist chappies, in the best Igor traditon,
chopped up the educated worms and fed them to the control group. After which
the untrained group were able to run the maze successfully. Which result no
doubt led to some predictable jokes about 'how to raise your IQ 60 points' -
sandwiches of Einstein's brain on pumpernickel, and so on.

As far as I know, the idea hasn't inspired too much SF, with the exception
of Alan Moore's 'Swamp Thing' comic in the 80s - there's this scientist
working on a plant growth formula, someone plants a bomb in his lab, the
remains of scientist and his formula are digested by the local swamp flora,
and the plants recreate a monstrous body inhabited by a consciousness that
*thinks* it's the scientist himself. Pretty good stuff.

> However, I
> have to be in Chennai for a week in April or May, so maybe I can get to
> read it in my hotel room.

No problem. Give me a shout when you're in town.

cheers,
Divya

"If a person feels he can't communicate, the least he can do is shut up
about it."
-- Tom Lehrer