The brainy cephalopods behaved about the same as lab rats under similar conditions, raising both neuroscience and ethical issues.
Tag: octopus
Squid self-edit their genomes
Open access: Abstract: In eukaryotic cells, with the exception of the specialized genomes of mitochondria and plastids, all genetic information is sequestered within the nucleus. This arrangement imposes constraints on how the information can be tailored for different cellular regions, particularly in cells with complex morphologies like neurons. Although messenger RNAs (mRNAs), and the proteins Read More…
It makes no sense that octopuses should be so smart
One difficulty is that just how a life form comes to evolve “intelligence” is a difficult question. Being intelligent ourselves, we can easily see the advantages of intelligence. But that does not tell us how exactly it is acquired.
Octopuses even have “smart” skin
So much complex, specified information and we are to believe it all just sort of happened via natural selection acting on random mutation (Darwinism)? Interestingly, this particular item doesn’t even make that claim. Maybe just too ridiculous.
Deemed “officially weirder”: Octopuses edit their RNA in response to environment
Well, first, we don’t really know for sure that no other life form does this. Maybe others do and we haven’t caught up to them yet. It would be easier to place in a context if we had a group to study rather than an outlier.
Is the octopus a “second genesis of intelligence”?
We know that the octopus is smart but the hardware “has little in common with the mammalian design”: While the octopus has a large central brain in its head, it also has a unique network of smaller ‘brains’ within each of its arms. It’s just what these creatures need to coordinate the mind-boggling complexity of Read More…