Menu

Skip to content
  • Home|
  • About|
  • Participate|
  • Social Directory|

The Well:

MBL News from the Source

You are here: Home / An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism | Scientific American

An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism | Scientific American

Published on February 18, 2021
An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism | Scientific American
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

MBL scientists Joshua Rosenthal and Caroline Albertin are featured in this article.

By Rachel Nuwer

Humans are more closely related to dinosaurs than they are to octopuses. Our lineage split from that of cephalopods—the spineless class that includes octopuses, squids and cuttlefish—half a billion years ago. Octopus brains lack any of the major anatomical features of vertebrate brains, and most of the animals’ neurons are distributed across their arms rather than in their head.

Yet octopuses are extremely intelligent, with a larger brain for their body size than all animals except birds and mammals. They are capable of high-order cognitive behaviors, including tool use and problem-solving, even figuring out how to unscrew jar lids to access food. Increasingly, some researchers are suggesting octopuses’ combination of smarts and sheer difference from humans could make them an ideal model for inferring common rules governing complex brain function, in addition to revealing novel neurological workarounds cephalopods have evolved. Read more …

Photo: The first octopus genome sequenced was from a California two-spot octopus (species pictured here). Credit: Joel Sartore

Source: An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism – Scientific American

Posted in MBL in the News | Tagged via bookmarklet

Post navigation

← How to Shape a Developmental Biologist? |The Node Millie Hughes-Fulford, NASA Shuttle Scientist, Dies at 75 | The New York Times →

MBL in the News

  • Microbes are ‘Unknown Unknowns’ Despite Being Vital to all Life | The Guardian
  • Coral Reef Sprouting on Cape Cod | WBSM New Bedford
  • Model Organisms on Roads Less Traveled | Nature Methods
  • White House Appoints MBL Alumna Jane Lubchenco to Key Climate Science Position
  • REU Student at MBL is Third Author on Paper Receiving National Attention | Ripon Press
  • Octopuses, Like People, Seem To Have Active Stages Of Sleep, May Dream | NPR
  • What to Expect When You’re Expecting… A Signal from Space | CTV W5
  • U.S. Global Change Research Should Focus on Preparing for the Worst | National Academies
  • One of the World’s Most Venomous Animals Is a Snail | The Atlantic
  • Clever Cuttlefish Show Advanced Self-Control, Like Chimps and Crows | The Conversation
Archived Posts

Subscribe to the Well

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts.

Copyright © 2021 Marine Biological Laboratory