Our eight-armed friend gets out of a jam: Tamsin Woolley-Barker reminds us what makes the creature so spectacular: Three-fifths of his neurons are in his arms. He has nerve cells and “eyes” all over his body. Like an eight-legged brainiac Mr. Potatohead, he is an inside-out neocortex covered in cameras. He sees through his skin, and … Continue reading Your Moment Of Octopus
Ze Frank turns his focus to one of the Dish’s pet subjects: Oliver Sacks also contemplates the creature: Here, as a start, the nervous system is much larger—an octopus may have half a billion nerve cells distributed between its brain and its “arms” (a mouse, by comparison, has only 75 to 100 million). There is a remarkable degree … Continue reading Your Moment Of Octopus
Rachel Nuwer drops some knowledge gleaned from Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea, a new book by Katherine Harmon Courage. She addresses the cephalopods’ allure: Octopuses, to some, are erotic muses. Japan’s notorious “tentacle erotica” traces back to an 1814 woodblock print (potentially NSFW [pictured above]) titled Tako to Ama, or “Octopus and the … Continue reading This Octopus Is NSFW
A reader responds to a recent post: I was one of your dawdling freeloaders. But I finally caved, and it wasn’t your coverage of the debt-crisis that did it. While politics are somewhat similar around the world, as a Canadian, I have been simply shocked by Congress and the insane behaviour on display. Riveting reading, … Continue reading Your Place For Politics And Octopus
What’s it like to be an octopus? Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the question in pursuit of a philosophy of mind: Action by an octopus … would mix elements that are usually distinct in animals like us. When we act, the border between self and environment is usually fairly clear. When we move an arm, the arm … Continue reading Consider The Octopus
by Zoë Pollock What the natural world can teach us about problem-solving: Nature teaches us that adaptation to environmental risk carries no goal of perfection. In human society, it’s politically expedient to propose top- down security initiatives that promise total risk elimination, such as “winning the global war on terror.” But trying to eliminate a threat … Continue reading The Octopus Defense
Sy Montgomery contemplates it: Half a billion years ago, the brainiest thing on the planet had only a few neurons. Octopus and human intelligence evolved independently. “Octopuses,” writes philosopher Godfrey-Smith, “are a separate experiment in the evolution of the mind.” And that, he feels, is what makes the study of the octopus mind so philosophically interesting.
Mind-blowing footage. It would have creeped me out. TDW captions: Scuba diving near the Wahine Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand, Victor Huang ran into a camera-thieving Kraken that made off with his brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2. Following a five minute chase, Victor was able to pry loose his prized possession from the mouth of … Continue reading “Cheeky Octopus”
Your final moment of octopus:
Probably the last batch of the bunch. A reader sends the above photo: I had to share my favorite piece of bathroom graffiti – not the most sophisticated I’ve ever seen, but it made me laugh out loud. This one probably will: A buddy of mine is in the U.S. Navy. In one of the … Continue reading Taking A Stand On The Can, Ctd
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