https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ocean-carries-memories-of-sars-cov-2/

The memories that we humans encode and store in the neuronal networks of our brains are fundamental to our existence as individuals and as collective societies—for the recalling of those memories, especially during times of stress, can help us to anticipate and shape the future for our own well-being.


But we are not the only ones to benefit from the capacity to remember, nor are human memories the only ones from which we can benefit. Animals across a wide spectrum provide clear evidence of memory retention, and, perhaps surprisingly, so do plants, microorganisms and inanimate systems (think, artificial intelligence), all of which lack a neuronal brain yet can function within their own networks as entities with agency and memory. In these cases, as in neuronal life, memory expresses itself through priming and triggering events that cause the organism or the system to respond in a way that improves overall fitness.