Nikolay Kukushkin, PhD - Intelligence Beyond the Brain
Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin explains how rethinking memory as a process embedded in every cell, not just the brain, can transform our understanding of intelligence, trauma, and what it means to be conscious.
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Episode Overview
In this episode, neuroscientist Nikolay Kukushkin challenges the idea that memory and intelligence are confined to the brain. Drawing on groundbreaking research, he explains how even non-neuronal cells, such as those in the kidney, can detect patterns, count, and store information in ways remarkably similar to neurons. Memory, he argues, is not something stored and retrieved like a file, but a dynamic, structural change in the cell itself.
We explore how this cellular form of cognition reshapes our understanding of trauma, learning, and the continuity of the self. Kukushkin discusses the layering of perception and memory in the brain, the predictive nature of consciousness, and how AI systems, though inspired by neurons, fall short of capturing the richness of biological intelligence.
The conversation spans sea slug experiments, glial cell function, molecular learning, and the parallels between artificial and cellular cognition. We consider whether the mind is best understood not as something housed in the brain, but as an emergent property of adaptive, self-organizing systems.
This episode invites a rethinking of what it means to learn, remember, and perceive.
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Nikolay Kukushkin, PhD Bio
Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin is a neuroscientist and clinical associate professor at New York University, where he also serves as a research fellow at the Center for Neural Science. He holds a D.Phil. in biochemistry from the University of Oxford and completed postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School. His work focuses on how molecular processes shape memory and behavior, with research published in Nature Communications, Neuron, and PNAS.
In a groundbreaking 2024 study, Dr. Kukushkin showed that even non-neuronal cells can detect patterns, count, and store information, challenging the idea that memory and intelligence are exclusive to the brain.
He is the author of the forthcoming book One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind, which explores the origins of consciousness through the lens of molecular biology and evolutionary history.
You can learn more about his work at nikolaykukushkin.com.
Show Notes
0:00 | Intro to Nikolay Kukushkin
5:10 | Memory in Seaslugs
10:25 | Cells Can Recognize Patterns
20:28 | Memory Defined
23:02 | Do Cells Store Trauma?
30:40 | Treatment for Neurological Conditions
38:40 | Brain & Memory Connection
42:25 | Optimal Interval for Superior Memory
44:52 | Layering of Predictions
50:35 | AI Inspired by Neuronal Behavior
52:27 | Cellular Cognition & Memory
54:47 | Intelligence of Non-Brain Cells
58:38 | Consciousness in Microtubules
1:06:15 | Where to Follow His Work
Website: nikolaykukushkin.com
One Hand Clapping Book: https://www.nikolaykukushkin.com/press-1
Follow on X: https://x.com/niko_kukushkin