The Sciences
Happy 8/8! Can You Spot These 8 Hiding Octopuses?
We must wait patiently two more months until the official International Octopus Day. But August 8th (8/8) is reason enough to celebrate these awesome, eight-armed creatures.
Stories by Katherine Harmon Courage
Octopus Eggs Need Helpful Bacteria To Stay Healthy, Too
We’re just learning how important certain microbes can be to our own health. They can help us digest foods and protect us from harmful invaders.
The Sciences
Mother Octopus Sets Longest Egg-Tending Record: More Than 4 Years on Baby Watch
Animals can take a year to gestate, but a deep-sea octopus has broken all previous records, hatching her eggs after 53 months
Evolution
Scrawny Wonderpus Puts Stranglehold On Mightier Mimic Octopus
Earlier this week, we learned that female octopuses sometimes strangle—and then possibly eat—their male mates. For a cannibalistic animal with long arms, perhaps we—and the male—should have seen that one coming...
Evolution
Female Octopus Strangles Mate, Then Eats Him
Octopuses do the darndest things. Like kill their mate during mating—by strangling him with three arms, according to new observations from the wild.
Evolution
DNA Finds New Octopus Species Hiding in Plain Sight
Describing a new species for science is not quite as easy as it was in the days of 17th- or 18th-century naturalists. But that just means we have to look a little more closely.
Evolution
Dr. Octopus Heads to the Operating Room
Robotic surgery has proved itself to be less than perfect so far. Stiff robotic limbs, burning surfaces, numerous complications. But what if that surgeon’s assistant was less like a standard robot—and more like an octopus?...
Evolution
Stunning Video Explains How Octopuses Out-Change Chameleons
Chameleons are often considered the quintessential color-changers. But the octopus outdoes them—using an entirely different mechanism to alter its appearance.
Evolution
Tiny Hairs Helps Octopus Suckers Stick
Just when you thought octopuses couldn’t get any weirder: It turns out that their suckers have an unexpectedly hairy grip. Octopuses can form an impressively tight grip—even on a rough surface...
Health
Baffling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Set for Diagnostic Overhaul
Researchers might soon redefine the mysterious condition, while the latest findings point to the role of brain inflammation
Evolution
Why Don't Octopuses Get Stuck To Themselves?
An octopus might be one of the most intelligent invertebrates, but it doesn’t always know what, exactly, its arms are doing. How these animals manage to avoid tangling themselves up is a major feat...
Health
Octopuses Rocking Too Much Heavy Metal
Octopuses are a popular entrée for plenty of predators—including us humans. And for good reason. Octopuses are nutritious, with loads of lean muscle in those amazing arms, and plenty of good minerals...
Environment
Mating Octopuses Prefer Crab Legs
Male octopuses don’t usually wine and dine prospective mates. But prior to mating, both males and females do seem to be in the mood for one date-worthy food: crab, according to new research published online in the Journal of Shellfish Research...
Health
Scientists Learn How to Put an Octopus to Sleep
We can’t really ask an octopus to count backward from 10. Which is just one of the tricky things about putting an octopus under. If knocking an octopus out (for science) sounds like an unusual procedure, well, it is...
The Sciences
Does the Octopus Really “Fart” Ink? [Video]
It’s true that the octopus is super weird. These animals have blue blood and three hearts. And as online personality and humorist Ze Frank points out in his latest video creation, it seems that they can also “fart ink at a moment’s notice”--pointing to this as “evolution at its finest.” The video’s tongue-in-cheek tone might [...]..
Mind
How Lil Wayne the NYC Octopus Will Help Scientists Understand the Brain
BROOKLYN--It wasn’t hard to name Lil Wayne. He actually volunteered to take the rapper’s moniker. On April 2, Frank Grasso, director of the Biomemetic and Cognitive Robotics Lab at Brooklyn College, showed me around his lab spaces--from where they build mobile robots to where they keep their axolotls and fiddler crabs to the crown jewel: [...]..
Tech
Scientists Move to Patent Octopus Robot
Scientists have spent years crafting a very special, creepy robot. One that can crawl over obstacles, swim through surf and grasp just about any object.
Environment
Elusive Dwarf Octopuses Hatch in Captivity
In the dark of night, between Monday, March 17, and Tuesday, March 18, dozens of fully formed baby octopuses burst forth from their outsized eggs.
Environment
How To Grow a Patagonian Red Octopus
Octopuses are tricky animals to keep in captivity. They’re smart, strong and slinky. But surely their eggs much be easier--being naturally contained and all.
Health
Why Is Dark Chocolate Good for You? Thank Your Microbes
Cocoa is good for your heart because of fermentation by gut bacteria, creating anti-inflammatory compounds that improve blood vessel function
