What happens when a curious child decides to take nature’s mysteries seriously? Something remarkable.
This is the true story of an 8-year-old who used a real biomimicry-style scientific method — patient observation, testable questions, and respectful experimentation — to make a genuine discovery about butterfly memory.
What you’ll learn:
- How a child’s simple observation led to a real scientific discovery
- What Jonah’s caterpillar-to-butterfly memory experiment actually showed
- Why his question about inherited memory matters for how we think about learning
- A “Biomimicry Wonder Prompt” you can use with your own curious kids
When Jonah was in kindergarten, most children were learning to tie their shoes. Jonah was testing how long butterflies could survive if they got stuck in their own chrysalis. By first grade, he was documenting a species of caterpillar that moulted more than usual. Building on the mystery of how a butterfly can carry a memory through metamorphosis, we will look at what Jonah did.
By second grade, just 8 years old, he had filled hundreds of handwritten pages with careful observations about butterflies.
And then, one spring, he noticed something that made him stop and wonder.
The butterflies he raised at home seemed to behave differently from wild ones. When he tried to release them, they fluttered back toward him. As if they remembered him from their time as caterpillars.
Could that really be true?
Like any serious researcher, Jonah went looking for answers in science papers. He found a study by an entomologist (insect scientist!) Martha Weiss, who had shown that moths could keep memories from their caterpillar days, even after metamorphosis. Excited and inspired, Jonah did something wonderfully bold: he wrote her a four-page handwritten letter from his home in Kobe, Japan.
Hello, my name is Jonah. I’m in second grade. I want to replicate your experiment with butterflies.
Martha was flattered, but honestly, she didn’t think a second grader could pull it off. She wrote back with a simpler suggestion.
Jonah wrote back again. He told her he had already begun adapting her methods for his home lab. And then, brilliantly, he pointed out a potential flaw in her experiment. She used ethyl acetate as the solvent in her experiment. Jonah questioned this, noting that ethyl acetate is actually used to kill insects. Might the caterpillars be naturally wired to hate it already?
Martha admitted she felt a little defensive. But she also realised: this child was serious.
The two became research partners across two continents, exchanging ideas about design and methodology. By autumn, Jonah had finished the experiment and sent Martha 33 pages of data.
What Did Jonah Actually Do?
Jonah trained swallowtail butterfly caterpillars to associate the smell of lavender oil with a mild electric shock. He chose lavender because it was a natural smell they wouldn’t have been instinctively afraid of, a thoughtful improvement on the original experiment.
He also tested the shock intensity carefully, starting at the lowest level and only going as high as needed, because these were his friends, and he didn’t want to hurt them unnecessarily.
After the caterpillars transformed into butterflies, he placed them in a Y-shaped maze. One arm had sugar water. The other had sugar water plus a small pad of lavender oil. If the memories had survived metamorphosis, the butterflies would avoid the lavender side.
Around 70% did exactly that.
This made Jonah the first person in the world to show that swallowtail butterfly memories persist through complete metamorphosis.
But he didn’t stop there.
A Question Born at the Kitchen Table
One day, Jonah was sitting with his mum and his grandmother, and he noticed something. All three of them had hay fever. Three generations — the same inherited sensitivity.
And a new question bloomed in his mind.
If memories can survive metamorphosis… could they be passed on to the next generation?
He bred the trained butterflies. Their offspring, who had never been trained at all, were placed in the same maze. They also avoided the lavender arm, in almost exactly the same proportions as their parents.
Jonah then bred a third generation. Same result.
At just 10 years old, Jonah presented his findings at the International Congress of Entomology in 2024, where professional researchers gathered around his booth, listened carefully, and lined up to take photos with him. He was even invited to present his work privately to the Crown Prince of Japan.
What made Jonah remarkable wasn’t just his results. It was his method — his patience, his kindness to his subjects, his willingness to question experts, and above all, his absolute refusal to stop being curious. It’s also biomimicry in its truest form — not copying a shape or a structure, but copying nature’s own patience and method of careful, respectful observation.
The Bigger Lesson
Jonah didn’t set out to revolutionise entomology. He set out to answer one honest question, and then he followed it — carefully, patiently, and kindly — wherever it led. That’s biomimicry in its truest sense: not copying a wing or a shape, but copying nature’s own method of watching closely, testing gently, and staying curious long after the easy answers run out.
A second grader with a notebook did what good scientists — and good biomimics — have always done. So the question worth sitting with isn’t really about butterflies at all. It’s this:
What might your own child — or student — discover, if you took their questions as seriously as Martha eventually took Jonah’s?
Biomimicry Wonder Prompt
If memories can be inherited — passed biologically from parent to child — what could that teach us about learning, teaching, and design?
Imagine designing a school where knowledge could somehow be “baked in” across generations. Or materials that “remember” how they were used by previous generations and adjust accordingly. What would that look like?
Curious what you could design from this idea? Try it yourself. In our final post about Butterflies, we will explore how butterfly metamorphosis connects to the world around you, and what can YOU design inspired by spring’s most dramatic transformation?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biomimicry?
Biomimicry is the practice of looking to nature for solutions, then applying what we learn to design and problem-solving. Instead of inventing from scratch, it means studying how plants, animals, and ecosystems have already solved a challenge — like staying cool, collecting water, or absorbing carbon — and adapting that strategy for human use.
How does biomimicry help address climate change?
Nature has been adapting to extreme conditions for billions of years, so many organisms already hold working solutions to problems we now face at a larger scale — cooling buildings without electricity (termite mounds), collecting water in drought (the Namib beetle), protecting coastlines from storms (mangrove roots), and capturing carbon (corals, forests, kelp). Biomimicry means studying those solutions and applying the same principles to human design.
How can children get involved in biomimicry?
Children don’t need special training to think like a biomimicrist — just curiosity and a habit of asking “how does nature solve this?” Simple ways to start include a backyard scavenger hunt for nature’s patterns, a “design-an-animal” challenge for a changing climate, or building a small model (like a passive-cooling structure or a water collector) inspired by something they’ve observed outdoors.
Is biomimicry only for scientists and engineers?
No — biomimicry is as much a mindset as a profession. Anyone can practice it by observing nature closely and asking design questions. Professional biomimicry practitioners apply it in architecture, materials science, and engineering, but the same core skill — careful observation followed by “what if we built it that way?” — is exactly what this post’s classroom and family activities are designed to build in children.
Åsa Jomård
In 2015, Åsa completed a course in Biomimicry: A Sustainable Design Methodology at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. With over 10 years of experience exploring nature for inspiration and as a former member of Ben, Biomimicry Education Network, she brings both academic background and creative teaching experience to her work. Her materials seamlessly integrate stories, nature observations, and design challenges, making them perfect for inquiry-led learning in early primary contexts.
AI was used as a Thinking Partner.