8 ms·
What octopus and human brains have in common
- dschuetz 4y agoYes, what do they have in common indeed. I didn't quite catch that from that article.
- eganist 4y agoFor those lost, the article is largely expanding on just a single sentence: > octopuses possess a massively expanded repertoire of microRNAs (miRNAs) in their neural tissue – reflecting similar developments that occurred in vertebrates. Better reading: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add9938 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add9938
- ghostpepper 4y agoIt seems like the crux of the discovery is the "expansion of repertoire" of miRNA, and the control group they're comparing to is vertebrates as a whole, and not specifically humans. According to some quick scanning on wikipedia, the importance of miRNA in neural tissues in mice has been shown by knocking out those genes. I wonder if the implication is that the massive complexity seen in vertebrate neural tissue is dependent on the ability of RNA to edit itself and somehow enable cognitive capabilities far beyond those encoded in the un-edited DNA? I'm just an enthusiastic layman so take all what I've written with a pail of salt.
- xattt 4y agoFurther to this, could some conditions that lead to neurodiversity be the result variations of miRNA expression mechanisms?
- melagonster 4y agousually, this is on octopus. human have more gene can generate more different RNA.
- Pietbull 4y agoSomewhat related - if you haven't yet, do see the "My Octopus Teacher" doccie on Netflix. Extraordinary creatures are these.
- TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y agoAlternate title "Assassination Classroom"
- NotACop182 4y agoThat’s funny
- Maxburn 4y agoAll right, this keeps coming up. I’ll put it on the list.
- wmwmwm 4y agoI can recommend “Other Minds” by Peter Godfrey-Smith for a pretty in depth read about octopus intelligence. Fascinating stuff!
- gsatic 4y agoHaven't heard of microRNA before...so this is just random RNA floating around?
- tejtm 4y agoThe opposite of random may be a better starting point. RNA we think of mainly functions a message from DNA to build protein. but it is not too shocking there are other "messages" or conveniently shaped molecules to aid or inhibit existing cellular processes. Yet another reason the word "gene" is unsafe to use except in reference to a heritable trait.
- Animats 4y agoOctopuses are interesting because they are so different from the mammals, yet are somewhat intelligent. The visual system is good but very different. They seem to have a more distributed system than mammals, with more done out in the limbs. More like the way automated factories are built. There's more than one way to do it.
- dhosek 4y agoWhat I find interesting is that as far as we know, they can’t see color and yet they can match their pigmentation to a colored background. I’ve always wondered if they can blend in against an artificial background, say a checkerboard pattern.
- jazzyjackson 4y agocuttlefish ain't quite octopi, but do i have the video for you: https://youtu.be/pgDE2DOICuc https://youtu.be/pgDE2DOICuc spoiler: right angles are not in the repertoire
- neodypsis 4y agoSo intelligent yet so short-lived.
- yieldcrv 4y agoTheir digestive tract fuses shut as sexual maturity Its a darwinian failure (or success) because it cant be weeded out by selective pressures since it happens after reproduction
- jazzyjackson 4y ago> cant be weeded out by selective pressures since it happens after reproduction if there was a population that didn't starve after sex, they might out-compete a population that did, say, by passing on learned behavior to their offspring
- Nevermark 4y agoTheir offspring are near microscopic and in vast numbers. A behavior mentoring relationship would be hard Perhaps if they evolved a stage where the tiny things latched onto the parent for protection from being food, and lived off the parent, then the parent might evolve to produce an edible skin (for tiny octopus) and hang around longer
- neodypsis 4y agoCan it be surgically re-opened? To see how much could they really live?