Meet Jo Nagai: 10-year-old Japanese student who discovered butterflies can remember their time as caterpillars after he noticed that the caterpillars he had raised to recognise him after turning into butterflies

Jo Nagai, a 10-year-old student at Ibuki East Elementary School in Kobe, Japan, discovered that butterflies can remember their caterpillar stage after observing that raised Asian swallowtail butterflies returned to his hand.

Nagai designed experiments exposing swallowtail caterpillars to lavender scent with a mild vibration stimulus; the results suggest memories formed as caterpillars persist through metamorphosis.

His research has been presented to professional scientists and has sparked discussions on insect cognition, though independent verification is still needed.

Nagai is a scholar of the Son Masayoshi Philanthropic Foundation and aims to become a veterinarian, despite his early success in entomology.