encode

This is in contrast to everything that is known about how memories are encoded in non-human animals, and it suggests that this might be a key adaptation behind human intelligence.

“Then you basically lose all of the information that you were encoding.”

“So we thought maybe these cells are actually encoding this experience of the apprehension and fear of these uncertain environments.”

The owl, our fellow animal, lives a life where many of the things that have been encoded in it by the grand scheme of evolution have been denied.

I can sympathize with the impulse to survive — that’s encoded in our DNA or something — but I can’t get over how misguided this mentality is.