Biology
Farewell from Octopus Chronicles—And an Ode To a Tool-Wielding Octopus
Today, after more than three years, I must bid farewell to Octopus Chronicles on ScientificAmerican.com. It has been a wild, weird, and fun run.
Octopus Chronicles
Adventures and Discoveries with the Planet's Smartest Cephalopods
The Sciences
Octopus Genome Remains Elusive—But Full of Promise
As many mysteries as the octopus holds—its comprehensive camouflage, smart suckers, agile brain—its genome is surely holding many more (including how it can regenerate its arms—suckers, nerves and all)...
There Are Plenty of Octopuses In the Sea—Or Are There?
First a moment to celebrate Octopus Chronicles‘ 100th post! Little could I have imagined when I started this blog in November 2011 that there would be so much amazing octopus research to cover—and so many wonderful readers...
7 Surprising Things Penguins of Madagascar Gets Right About Octopuses—And 4 It Gets Wrong
It’s not very often that a movie comes out that features an octopus as one of the main (speaking) characters. (And they only occasionally become the star of a video game.) So if you wouldn’t mind indulging me for a brief detour into animation territory, let’s see what Hollywood gets right (and wrong) about this [...]..
Rare Octopuses Get Their Close-Up
There are some 300 known species of octopus. From the huge giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) to the tiny poisonous blue-ringed octopus (genus Hapalochlaena), from the shallow-water mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) to the deep-sea Dumbo octopus (genus Grimpoteuthis)...
Soft Octopus Escape—and Paperback Octopus! Release [Video]
Octopuses long ago shed their ancestors’ protective shells in favor of a slinkier, floppier, softer existence. They were perhaps never meant to be held down by hard covers.
Octopus Play and Squid Eyeballs—And What They Can Teach Us About Brains
For cannibals, octopuses seem to be surprisingly fun loving. Some have been observed using their funnels to repeatedly blow objects around in their tanks.
Mistaken Octopus Sex Identity Leads to Multi-Armed Wrestling Match [Video]
The octopus, by in large, practices very safe sex. You would, too, if you and the object of your affection were both cannibals. But the algae octopus (Abdopus aculeatus) has developed a relatively sophisticated mating system that involves far more close contact than many other octopus species...
Technology
New Material Could Mimic Octopuses' Camouflage [Video]
It’s no doubt that, with a repertoire of everything from colorful coral to a poisonous sea snake, the octopus could win any costume contest handily.
Evolution
Is Smell the Key To an Octopus's Heart?
We know that octopuses have awesome visual systems and super-sensitive suckers. We have even learned that they can hear. But little scientific attention has been paid to their sense of smell...
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