The Cherry Blossom Experiment

02020-07-06 | Uncategorized | 2 comments

The Cherry Blossom Experiment made some headlines around seven years ago.
Link: Scientific American
Link: Washington Post
Link: New Scientist

Male mice were subjected to electric current running through the bottom of their cage. This made them agitated, of course, and they would jump around trying to find ground without current.

Next the scent of cherry blossoms was piped into the cage whenever the current was turned on.

After while the mice would jump around and get agitated upon smelling the cherry blossom scent, even when the current was not on.

Then the male mice were put together with female mice and they had offspring. The male mice were removed before the next generation was born.

This is where it gets very interesting. Remember, the female mice were never subjected to the electric current… Even though the new generation of mice had never seen their fathers and even though their mothers knew nothing of the male mice’s experience, the little mice grew agitated and jumped around when the scent of cherry blossoms was piped into the cage.

Diseases, addictions, depression, they may all originate from us, or perhaps from a great great grandparent. A person’s body shape could be the result of trauma that’s been carried for generations, and not because of their lifestyle choices. We, as well as our ancestors, may have carried a mental or physical pain for hundreds of years, and maybe longer.

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that the idea of being a lone individual is just not tenable anymore. We come into this world carrying the sadness or good fortune of our ancestors.

2 Comments

  1. JaneParhamKatz

    Yes, Ottmar. This is very interesting! Do you have any unexplainable responses?

    For me, when a very young child, I had recurring dreams of bombs dropping right in a pit where I was hiding. I looked straight up at them as they were falling on me. There is no way I could have seen that image; we had no TV and I was not taken to movies. I never told anyone. I had the odd thought that I was a nun in France. Where in the world did those thoughts come from? My father was in US Navy combat in WWII in the Pacific. I think I may have taken something from his horrendous war experience. He never told me or Mother anything about it. Mother much later told me that all he had ever said, when she asked him what fabric pattern he preferred for the couch, was “How can I care about that when I remember talking to my buddy one moment, and the next moment his head was blown off!” I think I have carried Daddy’s shock and sadness. I’m so grateful that both my parents were extremely loving and tender with me.

    By the way, thank goodness I have only joyful memories of the beautiful cherry blossoms we saw every year in Washington DC. :-)

    Reply
  2. Kate

    Thanks for this article. I shared this with several people. Do you have any articles or research data talking more on this? I would love some recommendations as I am fascinated.

    Reply

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