How the octopus got its smarts

Cosmos Magazine ^ | September 17, 2018

[ETL]

[ETL]

Scientists gave octopuses ecstasy and it revealed a secret genetic link to humans

News.com.au ^ | Sept 21, 2018 | Nick Whigham

Posted on 9/21/2018, 2:13:49 PM by ETL

SCIENTISTS gave the popular party drug MDMA to a group of octopuses and the results were “completely unexpected” and reveal a hidden link to humans

SCIENTISTS have discovered what happens when you give the party drug MDMA to an octopus, and say the animals surprising reaction has “amazing” implications.

A team of researchers in the US decided to give a group of octopuses MDMA, often referred to as ecstasy or Molly to see how it would alter their behaviour.

After being dosed, the sea creatures become much more social, friendly and interested in others.

It made the animals — normally anti-social creatures — want to gather together, hug, and touch each other in a curious fashion.

Remarkably, they exhibited much the same behaviour as humans do when taking the drug that produces feeling of euphoria and a desire for social connection. And that’s the surprising part.

As the researchers pointed out, human and octopus lineages are separated by over 500 million years of evolution and show divergent anatomical patterns of brain organisation. In terms of our nervous system, we could hardly be more different.

The purpose of the study was for scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts to work out if octopuses and humans shared any genetic links.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...

[ETL]

The jury is still out on this because the experiment was tried on 4 other creatures, a horse, a goat, a tree sloth, and a former vice president, with very similar results...

[Tudorfly]

Sorry, Cosmos, you went into la-la land when you used the phrase “400 million years ago.” God did not create the earth 400 million or more years ago.
Fake Science.

[ETL]

GoreBull Warming is fake science.

[Brother Cracker]

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

[Tudorfly]

ETL, you are correct.

[Paal Gulli]

The amazing part is they get so smart but only live so briefly. The lifespan of the common Atlantic octopus is only a couple of years. The giant Pacific octopus is about four years. But they’ve been shown to demonstrate problem-solving, like figuring out how to unscrew the lid on a glass jar to get at a fish inside. They’ve also been shown to learn by observing.

What blows my mind when I’ve seen them while scuba diving is that they can change not just the color of their skin at will but also its texture. In a fraction of a second they go from smooth-skinned, useful for hiding among the rocks, to spiky-looking, so they can hide in the eel grass.

Without a doubt they’re the most fascinating critter I’ve ever seen in the wild.

[Bob434]

[[How did the octopus get so smart?]]

It gradiated from the Dodo School of Higher learning, that’s how

[RandallFlagg]

Octopus = Al Gore at a massage parlor.

[Bob434]

[[The lifespan of the common Atlantic octopus is only a couple of years.]]

That’s only because they are heavy smokers

[Ndorfin]

If you are into Octopus as much as I am you need to read this too.

https://people.com/pets/octopus-mdma-ecstasy-study/

“Brothers from another mothe..... XXXXX

Ok sorry, just really cool and smart.

Survivor aliens dropped in the ocean? Put on your tin hats sit down and let me tell you a story now............

[Bob434]

[[What blows my mind when I’ve seen them while scuba diving is that they can change not just the color of their skin at will but also its texture.]]

Pffff- that’s nothing, Bradley Manning went from being a man to being a ... well ... a man without man parts

[freedom1st]

I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden in the shade
He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been
In his octopus’ garden in the shade

[miliantnutcase]

Imagine how smart they could be if they lived decades?

[rey]

I noticed yesterday that COSTCO was selling octopus. I’m a little suspect of it, like the sushi at 7/11, not that I’m in the market for either.

[Phillyred]

[Waverunner]

Home schooling, just like the fish!

[Getready]

Title says HOW the octopus got its smarts...they show NO evidence of “how”...recounting an unobservable lineage is not HOW. Title should have been....”octopii show distributive brain functionality”....they should examine the brains of closest related animals and dna/rna/proteins/epigenetics for a clue as to differences....then maybe the HOW will be clearer.

[Bob434]

good one-