Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, biologist, and author, known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance, discusses morphogenetic fields, morphic resonance, evolutionary biology, and much more.

Podcast Points:

• What is morphic resonance?
• Does the brain store memory?
• A discussion on developing structures and collective memory

During his tenure at Cambridge University, Dr. Sheldrake worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. Dr. Sheldrake discusses his background and his lifelong love of biology, starting out as a young boy—cultivated through his connections to animals and interest in plants. He discusses his thoughts on science throughout his studies at Cambridge and Harvard.

He talks about form development, and the many questions of science, detailing some of his research in cells and cell death. He provides a detailed analysis of his thoughts on morphogenetic fields. A morphogenetic field, simply defined, is a group of cells that are able to respond to separate, local biochemical signals that lead to the development of precise morphological structures, or organs.

Continuing, Dr. Sheldrake talks about plant and animal development, and modules that are organized by morphogenetic fields. Expanding his discussion, he explains how fields work, discussing electromagnetic fields and gravitational fields. As he explains, fields are spread out, in and around, a developing plant or animal, and they contain a formal structure, which is what molds or shapes the developing structures.

He cites examples that substantiate his theories, regarding fields and the wholly integrative nature of those fields. He discusses his theories on morphic resonance, and how individual organisms can draw on collective memories of the form of their ancestors.

Going further, Dr. Sheldrake explains his other thoughts on form and other hypotheses regarding memory, and the brain's memory storage abilities, detailing morphic resonance and how the evidence, he states, points to the fact that the brain actually tunes in to memory, but that memory is not actually 'stored.'