The Forbidden Theory of Morphic Resonance

- For decades, a shadowy organization called The Lemonati has kept lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Look around, lemon-forward sodas, even lemon-forward songs. We ran the tracks, slowed them down, reversed them, and squeezed out the truth. ♪ All hail the lemon ♪ - That's lemon propaganda right there. But now, 7UP is fighting back with their new lime-lemon soda. Join the 7Uprising. Flip the sip. - In 1920, a Harvard scientist put rats in a maze with two exits. One path was well-lit but electrified. The other was dark but safe. The rat tried the bright exit. It got shocked. It tried again. It got shocked again and again. It took 165 painful tries, but it finally learned to take the dark path. 15 years later and 30 generations later, the rats needed just 20 tries. They were getting smarter. The solution was passed genetically. That's not supposed to happen. A scientist in Scotland tried the same experiment with a completely different set of rats. His rats started at 25 tries, as if they already knew the answer to the puzzle. Knowledge had crossed the ocean, and no one could explain how. It's a mystery, but it's not a lie. When we started the Y-Files store, it honestly felt like we had to learn everything all at once. Merch design, inventory, payments, shipping, customer emails. Suddenly, you're wearing about 20 different hats, and every day adds five more things to the to-do list. Finding the right platform that actually simplifies all that can be a total game changer. For us, that platform has been Shopify. Shopify powers millions of businesses around the world. Shopify has been around for more than 20 years. It's been around in the United States and around the world, including household names like Gymshark and Heinz, and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S., from massive brands to creators just getting started. Shopify gives you everything in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics, marketing tools, all of it. They've got hundreds of ready-to-use templates so you can build a professional-looking store without needing to be a web designer. And their AI tools help you write product descriptions, create content, and improve product photos fast. They also help you reach customers with email campaigns. Plus, Shopify's award-winning 24/7 support is always there if you get stuck. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com/y. Go to shopify.com/y. That's shopify.com/y. Lamarckism. Or Lamarckian inheritance is the idea that an organism can pass on skills it acquired during its lifetime, like a rat learning to avoid electric shocks, or a human learning how to throw a football. The theory is named for zoologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who proposed it in 1809. And the theory is supposed to be wrong. Standard biology says that knowledge can't be inherited. Only traits can. Eye color, intelligence, allergies, but not knowledge, not information. Harvard psychologist William McDougal tested this theory in 1920. The setup was simple, rats and a water maze. He used Wister rats, common in labs because they're genetically identical, perfect for this experiment. The maze had two ways out. One was brightly lit and easy to find. The other exit was dark. The bright exit delivered an electric shock. The dark exit was safe. And McDougal added a twist. The bright exit was dark. It moved. Sometimes it was to the left, sometimes to the right, so the rats couldn't memorize a direction. They had to learn one rule. Avoid the light. "Course over, children. Go into the light. There is peace and serenity in the light." Rats should naturally avoid the dark and swim toward the way out that they can see. Any animal would. You would. That's exactly what happened. McDougal's rats swam toward the bright exit, got shocked, swam back, and then swam into the light again. And tried again. And got shocked again. Sometimes over 300 times. On average, the first generation took 165 tries before they learned, "Dark equals safe. Light equals pain." Then McDougal bred the rats and tested their offspring. But he selected parents at random. He wasn't cherry-picking for intelligence, he just grabbed any two rats and put their offspring in the maze. And according to standard biology, the new generation should start from scratch. They should average 165 tries. That's not what happened. Generation 2 did better, 141 tries on average. Generation 3, 118. By generation 8, rats were averaging 56 tries. That's when McDougal noticed something strange. The improvement wasn't slowing down, it was accelerating. 8 more generations. The average dropped down to 41. 8 more, down to 29. By generation 30, rats were solving the maze with just 20 tries. What took their ancestors 165 attempts, they mastered in 20. They were 8 times faster at learning the same task. McDougal tried to break the pattern. He split his colony and started breeding specifically for slow learners, taking the worst performers from each generation. And mating them together. These rats should have stayed slow or gotten worse. But they got faster too. Same rate of improvement as the randomly bred line. The slowest learners were producing offspring that learned faster than their parents, generation after generation. McDougal published his results carefully. No wild claims. No revolutionary declarations. Just the data. 30 generations. Thousands of rats. Every trial documented. He mentioned in his private notes that it looked like Lamarck might have been right. Skills could be inherited. But genetics don't work that way. Except here it was, happening in his lab. The rats were inheriting something. Not genes. Not training. They were inheriting the ability to solve a puzzle their parents had learned through pain and repetition. Whatever was happening, it wasn't genetics. Because not only were skills being transmitted across generations, they were being transmitted across the entire species all over the world. I'll be honest, I never got a real money education as a kid. I got an allowance, spent it immediately, and nobody explained why that was a problem. Greenlight is what I wish existed back then. Greenlight is a debit card. A debit card and money app built for families. You can send money quickly to your kid's wallets, set flexible spending controls, and get real-time notifications, so you see exactly what's happening before mistakes turn into habits. With cash, you have zero visibility. With Greenlight, you're actually in the loop. The app makes it engaging, too. There are games that teach savings, investing, and spending without feeling like homework. The chores feature lets you assign tasks, pay when they're done, and streaks keep kids consistent. It's worked money in a way kids actually get. That's how real life works. Millions of parents and kids already use it. And there's a reason Greenlight is the number one family finance and safety app. Parents stay in control. Kids build real independence. Every day they're handling money without guidance is a missed opportunity. Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com/y. Don't wait to teach your kids real-world money skills. That's greenlight.com/y to get started. greenlight.com/y. That's greenlight.com/y. Start your risk-free Greenlight.com/y to get started. related and unrelated different labs different countries it didn't matter the knowledge was spreading through the entire species but it wasn't just rats for years milk was left on people's doorsteps glass bottles with foil caps and I can't believe I'm old enough to remember this but I am in 1920 in Southampton England the blue tip birds learned something useful about no crap did you just say a blue tip birds yes sometimes they're called blue caps but technically they're please stop saying hey we're gonna be talking about blue tits and milk for a while we are here's what the birds here's what they learned about milk here's the foil cap drink the cream this behavior spread all over Britain by the 1940s they were all doing it every go ahead every blue tit was doing it hey hey hey do you have any stories about blue bazoombas a turquoise tapas no a cobalt canes periwinkle peaks midnight melons no denim dumplings sapphire sandbags that's enough you could argue that the birds were watching each other and learning this trick but then came World War two all aluminum was needed for aircraft so no more foil caps they used wood or cheaper harder metal blue tits couldn't get through they only live a couple of years so by the time the war was over every bird that had ever pierced a cap was dead the entire generation that knew the trick they were gone but when the foil caps came back blue tits were piercing them again birds that had never seen the trick across all of Britain all at the same time this wasn't genetics memory or observation this was a skill somehow encoded into the speech of the birds and that's what happened to the species itself but this can happen to non-living things too specifically crystals when chemists synthesize a new compound getting it to crystallize for the first time can take months or years different temperatures different solvents different pressures the molecules just won't organize they won't form a pattern until one day they do and then something strange happens a compound that resisted crystallization for decades suddenly crystallizes everywhere on Earth glycerol was a liquid for centuries no one could crystallize it then in 1867 a barrel crystallized during shipment to Vienna after that glycerol crystallized easily everywhere xylitol same story decades of failure then one success then success everywhere rats birds crystals they were passing behaviors to each other all over the world something something had to be carrying this information something we couldn't see something we didn't understand but in 1981 a young scientist from Cambridge found a pattern not only could species pass information anywhere around the world they could pass information anywhere through time you this episode is sponsored by better help May is mental health awareness month and it's a great reminder that a lot of people are carrying around way more than they let on some days you feel focused and motivated other days your brain decides that 3am is the perfect time to replay every mistake you've made since middle school I've been there that's where better help can really help better help is online therapy with access to over 30 000 licensed therapists who are ready to help in the field that's where better help can really help better help is online therapy with access to over 30 000 licensed therapists worldwide they match you with a therapist based on your needs and preferences so you can focus on actually talking through what's going on instead of trying to figure out everything by yourself and for a lot of people it's not even just one thing it's just a constant pile up deadlines family responsibilities trying to keep everything moving while you're pretending you're not exhausted I get it you tell yourself I'll deal with it later and then later turns into months or longer better help has helped more than six million people around the world you fill out a short questionnaire and if the match doesn't feel right you can switch anytime you don't have to be on this journey alone find support and have someone with you in therapy sign up and get 10 off at betterhelp.com y files that's better help better h-e-l-p.com y files in 1973 Rupert Sheldrake sat in his Cambridge lab staring at a bean plant it was doing something that shouldn't be possible according to everything he knew about biochemistry hang on hang on the guy was called Rupert Sheldrake yes why that's the kind of name that's gonna cost you a fortune in lunch money yeah I don't think there was a lot of bullying going on at Cambridge oh wake up human wedgies are Universal I bet even Stephen Hawking had to eat his own tiny whities from time to time and he sat on those things all day anyway bean plants are like vines they can't stand on their own they need a structure to grow around a wall a fence a tree he was growing plants using pots and small wooden poles for support same method every time the plant sprouts grows toward the pole and starts climbing but this particular bean plant was doing something very strange it was growing toward a pole that wasn't there yet it was growing to where the pole would be in the future now Sheldrake was a serious scientist Cambridge Fellowship Harvard PhD in biochemistry director of studies at age 31 his research on plant hormones is still in textbooks today but this bean plant was bothering him plants don't have eyes they don't have nervous systems the support pole wouldn't be installed for another two days yet the beam was already changing its growth pattern already preparing to climb something that didn't exist yet he'd seen this before thousands of times every biologist had they just didn't talk about it DNA doesn't actually contain the blueprint for what an organism becomes an acorn has the same DNA in every cell their cells grow into roots or leaves branches they organize themselves into a tree and nobody can really explain how they know to do that think of DNA like Lego bricks a Star Wars set and a castle set use exactly the same pieces the only difference is the final shape a fruit fly a banana even a human being share most of the same DNA but they develop into completely different organisms the final shape isn't in the DNA something else is guiding the process one night walking home along the River Cam Sheldrake had a moment of clarity maybe nature has a memory when any system organizes itself a crystal forming a plant growing and animal learning it creates what Sheldrake would call a morphic field a memory in nature a similar system can resonate with that field and access that memory meaning a time to pierce the foil crystals learning to form and the more that memory is accessed the stronger it gets and it influences everything that comes after across space and time no physical connection required because that memory is now part of nature all of nature everywhere forever in 1974 Sheldrake moved to India to work at an agricultural Institute that was his day job he spent his nights at a farm and for 18 months between prayers and meditation he wrote a book proposing that the universe has memory he called it a new science of life he published it in 1981 the most important science journal in the world responded by calling for his book to be burned the theory of morphic residents cost Sheldrake his career and a few years later it almost cost him his life look I'm going to be honest with you I had no idea how much money it was just quietly leaving my account every month random subscriptions impulse purchases all the little charges that quietly pile up that's when I started using rocket money rocket money is a personal finance app that helps you track subscriptions organize your spending set budgets and actually see your full financial picture in one place the subscription tracker alone was eye-opening some things I completely forgot I was paying for which rocket money helped me cancel in just a few taps I also like that rocket money sends alerts for large purchases and upcoming bills giving me a sense of financial security and if you're trying to save for something specific, their goals feature is incredibly useful. In fact, users who create a financial goal with Rocket Money save over $70 on average within the first 30 days. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at rocketmoney.com slash the Y files. That's rocketmoney.com slash the Y files. Rocketmoney.com slash the Y files. September 1981, John Maddox, editor of Nature, then the most prestigious science journal in the world, wrote an editorial about Sheldrake's book. He called it the best candidate for burning there's been for many years. Nature publishes Nobel laureates. Watson and Crick, Darwin. Calling for book burning was unprecedented in modern history of the journal. Maddox compared the book to Hitler's Mein Kampf and its potential for damage. He wasn't calling Sheldrake wrong. He was calling him dangerous. Maddox even said, Sheldrake's not a real scientific theorist. It's not even a theory. It's an exercise in pseudoscience. You see, Sheldrake's is not a scientific theory. Sheldrake, is putting forward magic instead of science. And that can be condemned in exactly the language that the Pope's used to condemn Galileo. And for the same reasons, it is heresy. Professors curious about Morphic resonance went silent. Graduate students were warned away. Research funding dried up. But the more the establishment attacked Sheldrake, the more people read his work. The book burning editorial made Sheldrake's book a bestseller. He became the most talked about biologist in Britain overnight. Not for science, but for the attempt to suppress it. But the worst attack on Sheldrake wasn't intellectual. April 2nd, 2008, he was giving a lecture in Santa Fe. A man in the audience rushed the stage with a knife. He stabbed Sheldrake in the leg, then security tackled him. The attacker told police and a reporter afterward that Sheldrake was using him as a subject in telepathic mind control experiments for five years. The wound was serious, but Sheldrake recovered. And days later, still using a walker, he gave a talk titled Science and Hope. In March 2013, Sheldrake gave a TEDx talk called The Science Delusion. He challenged what he called the 10 dogmas of modern science. That nature is mechanical, that matter is unconscious, and that mind is nothing but brain activity. That kind of stuff. Well, TED removed the talk from their YouTube channel. Bloggers campaigned against it. TED consulted what they called a science board, but they never told us who was on it. The talk was about scientific dogmatism. The response was dogmatic censorship. But the attempts to silence Sheldrake kept backfiring. The banned TED talk got millions of views on other channels. The stabbing made international news. Every attack made more people ask, what are they so afraid of? Then a British TV broadcaster had an idea. They would test morphic resonance on the largest scale ever attempted. So now there were two million people about to test this theory on live TV. In 1984, British television ran an experiment. They showed viewers a puzzle. One of those hidden pictures where you stare at random dots until an image appears. About two million people watched. Then researchers tested people who hadn't seen the broadcast. Some were in different cities. Some were in different countries. They solved that specific puzzle faster than a control group tested before the broadcast. And not a little faster. Much faster. Those two million people who watched the show gave nature a new memory. A solution to that puzzle. Sheldrake said this could apply to crossword puzzles. He said crosswords should get easier to solve as the day goes on. As more and more people solve the puzzle, they're creating and reinforcing a morphic memory. That new memory makes the puzzle easier for everyone trying the puzzle for the first time. "Oh, maybe that's why I'm so naturally great with women, huh?" I don't even know what. "Giari men historically put up numbers that would make a Wilt Chamberlain jealous." Okay. Gross. Thanks. Thanks. Great interjection. Some newspapers tested the puzzle theory. The London Evening Standard found their puzzles were solved 20% faster in the evening after thousands of people spent the day solving them. Then there's the Flynn Effect. Since the 1920s, IQ scores have risen worldwide by about three points per decade. Every generation scores higher than the last on the exact same tests. Experts credit better nutrition, better education, better test-taking skills, but the gains show up even in pattern recognition tests that don't rely on education at all. tests that don't rely on education at all. Morphic Resonance says as more humans master cognitive tasks, those tasks become easier for everyone. Sheldrake's most famous research involves dogs. He documented over 200 cases of dogs that go to the door or window when their owners decide to come home. Not when they come home, when they decide to. Owners came home at random times, in unfamiliar vehicles. The dogs still knew. One dog, a terrier named JT, was tested over 100 times. Within 10 seconds of his owner leaving work, JT went to the window 85% of the time. The owner was four miles away. Then there's the sense of being stared at. Sheldrake ran 25,000 trials. Subjects guessed whether someone was looking at them from behind. They guessed right 55% of the time. Now, 50% might not seem like much, but with that huge sample size, it's significant. We've all had that feeling where we know someone's looking at us. The book Lifetide, released in 1979, is about monkeys on Koshima Island. One learned to wash sweet potatoes in the ocean. Other monkeys copied her. Once 100 monkeys learned the trick, monkeys on other islands started washing potatoes too. Just like McDougal's rats, knowledge had jumped across the ocean. We've got rats and monkeys teaching each other on different islands, dogs and plants that can predict the future, people solving puzzles faster as the day goes on. I just like blue tits and milk. Hey, didn't Luke Skywalker drink that stuff in The Last Jedi? I don't know what you're talking about. I never heard of that movie. Fair enough. I love the concept of morphic resonance. But is it true? Well, let's start with the bad news. That famous monkey story? That's completely made up. Lyle Watson took real observations from primatologists and added a little fiction for fun. The crystal formations have a conventional explanation too. When scientists first synthesized the crystal, they were able to find out what the crystal was. When scientists first synthesized a new compound, it resists crystallization. After one lab succeeds, others find it easier. Sheldrake says it's morphic fields. Chemists say it's seed crystals. Microscopic traces on clothing, in beards, on shared equipment that's shipped between labs. And once the crystals exist anywhere, they exist everywhere. No mysterious fields required. That one is a stretch for me, but that's the official scientific view. The crossword puzzles and TV experiments are interesting, but the effects are small and the methods are contested. So they can go either way. It's not the smoking gun that Sheldrake needs. But then there are the rats. MacDougall's data is real. Crew replicated it. Agar replicated it on a separate continent. Rats got smarter across generations, with no physical contact. Critics explain it like this. Early generations of rats were stressed by the fact that they had no physical contact with each other. The rats were stressed by inexperienced researchers who didn't handle them properly. So as the researchers got better at handling them, the rats did better on the test. Now, I think the skeptics lose that one, especially when we consider something discovered decades after MacDougall died. Epigenetics. This shows acquired traits can chemically tag DNA and pass information to offspring. So the effect might be real. The cause, we still don't know. The dogs anticipate that MacDougall will die. but not all physics not quantum physics two particles separated by any distance a room a galaxy it doesn't matter they respond to each other instantly this was confirmed in the 1980s that's an instant transfer of information that ignores the law of conservation of energy and ignores the speed of light and nobody knows how this works in the 1930s carl jung proposed a collective unconscious a shared reservoir of human experience running beneath individual awareness physicist david bohm said all points in space are fundamentally connected erwin schrodinger one of the architects of quantum mechanics and famous for the cat argued that individual consciousness is just an illusion that there's only one mind max planck nikola tesla albert einstein all arrived at the same place from completely different directions some through mathematics some through watching rats learn mazes some through quantum theory itself all of them looked at the universe and landed on the same word connected maybe the laws of nature are fixed written into the fabric of reality before the first star formed or maybe the universe creates memories that strengthen through repetition always evolving we can't prove it either way but there is one scientific fact that nobody can deny a long time ago every atom in your body was connected to every other atom in every other person on earth every atom in your body was connected to every atom in every animal every plant every rock and every planet in the universe and if the smallest things in existence stay connected to each other across any distance then acting like the people around you are separate from you isn't just unkind it's unscientific thank you so much for hanging out today my name is aj that's hecklefish beauty this has been the y files get funner learned anything he'd appreciate it if you hit like subscribe comment share that stuff really helps us out and like most topics we cover on the channel today's is recommended by you and if there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about go to the y files dot com slash tips hop on discord email us send a chat there's a lot of ways to get a hold of us we're always looking for topic ideas and remember the y files is also a podcast you can take us on the road you get to hear the same videos we play here plus there's some bonus content like the stuff that's really not allowed here it's called the y files operation podcast and it's available everywhere and if you are listening on an audio platform right now do me a favor and hit the buttons the follow the like the thumbs up the good ratings the stuff all that stuff that really makes a big big difference i'd appreciate it now if you need more y files in your life i'd suggest you stepped on my joke buddy if you need more y files in your life check out our discord you know how many people are on there give me a second we're wrapping it up they're about i'm leaving it in there are about 100 000 members on discord now so 24 7 there's someone on there hanging out talking about the same weird stuff we do here it's a great community it's a lot of fun and it's free to join and speaking of 24 7 make sure you he's just flopping around like i could fish on on the deck of a boat you good buddy yeah check out our 24 7 stream on the white house backstage there's a link down below over there we run episodes back to back with some fun content in between and the live chat it's hilarious the people over there have created an incredible community if you enjoy the stories i tell on the white files check out my other show on the channel called the basement it's a conversation show where i chat with the interesting people behind the episodes experts on fun topics like the knights templar time travel moon landing hoax jfk ufo technology quantum consciousness all kinds of random stuff and if there's someone you'd like to see on the show let me know i'm always looking for good guests a special thanks to our patrons who made this channel possible every episode of the y files is dedicated to my patreon members i couldn't do any of this without your support and if you'd like to keep us going support the channel join this crazy community become a member on patreon for as little as three bucks a month you get access to perks like seeing videos early you build commercials exclusive merch and at least two private live streams every week all just for you and the whole white files team is on the stream not just me so you get to see gino victoria mary jane hybrid jen whoever i'm forgetting him so every you get to meet everybody all cameras are on but also you can turn on your camera hop up on stage ask a question tell a joke talk about anything anything you want it's a great way to get to know us as people i think is the best perk there is another great way to support the channel is grab something from the live file store i grab a heck of a t-shirt pull out of these visible coffee bugs you can stick your fist in oh what do i put your blue tits now whatever you want whatever you want to put it yeah put it oh i can't uh get out of here i shut my face squeezy okay i can't i can't do it but if you're gonna buy merch make sure you become a member on youtube hear me out youtube members get 10 off everything in the wild file store so if you're gonna spend 40 bucks on t-shirts or visible coffee mugs if you know you know if you're gonna spend 40 bucks over there join on youtube get the code it pays for itself and then just cancel if you want the code is there to save you money not make me money in fact all that revenue goes to the team i don't touch it so thank you for that yeah keep that secret close to your blue tits would you those are the plugs and that's gonna do it until next time be safe be kind and know that you are appreciated i played bolivia scenario 51 a secret code inside the bible said i was i love my ufos and paranormal fun as well as music so i'm singing like i should but then another conspiracy theory becomes the truth my friends and it never ends no it never ends so i fear the crab cat and i got stuck inside male's home with mk ultra being only two away did stanley kubrick fake the moon landing alone on a film set or were the shadow people there the roswell aliens just fought the smiling man i'm told and his name was cold and i can't believe i'm dancing with the fish and the fish are thursday nights when they chase you and the white balls of the beat all through the night all i ever wanted was to just hear the truth so the white balls of the beat all through the night the mothman sidings and the solar storm still come to have got the secret city underground mysterious number stations planets are bold to project stargate and where the dark watchers found we've been a simulation don't you worry though we've been a simulation don't you worry though we've been a simulation don't you worry though The black knight said a lot, he told me so I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish Heck, no fish on Thursday nights when they chase you And the wild birds have their feet all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild birds have their feet all through the night Can't go fish on Thursday, next Wednesday, J2 And the wild birds have been beat all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild birds have been beat all through the night Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance, Gertie loves to dance on the dance floor Because she is a camel, and camels love to dance When the feeling is right, I'm wasting time Gertie loves to dance ♪ I'm getting locked in ♪ Online Deal Days are back at Kroger. Don't miss your chance for extra savings when you shop, pick up, or delivery. You can save $30 on your first online order of $75 or more with your digital coupon. Plus, enjoy unlimited free delivery by starting a boost-free trial today. But hurry, these extra savings end October 20th. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger, fresh for everyone. Hank joined BJ's Wholesale Club the day he became a father of 30. I coach football. Now, Coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices, 30 pounds of pasta, three cases of protein bars, 75 sports drinks. And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork, and BJ's knows savings. This is your home, Coach. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at BJ's.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the Save. We just moved into our new house, and I didn't realize just how close we were to the neighbors. That's when my friend told me about Blinds.com. Blinds.com isn't a medication, but it can improve how you feel about your home. Customers who shop at Blinds.com experience excellent customer service, from consultation to installation. Side effects include increased privacy and better sleep. Talk to your partner today and see if Blinds.com is right for you. Visit Blinds.com now to save up to 50% off site-wide during our annual fall blowout sale.