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Do Octopi Have Distributed Intelligence?

Two thirds of octopi neurons lie outside the head and instead in the tentacles. The theory is that the cognitive load away from the head allows for and is a product of eight highly flexible and intricate limbs.

But how much intelligence is delocalised away from the head?

A resent study investigated the behaviour of severed octopi limbs and found that these limbs remain responsive to perceived danger long after being severed and the octopus owner has been euthanised. I feel I must address the ethics of this study and say that the animals were used in other unrelated previous studies and would have been euthanised regardless.

"After the animals were euthanized, their arms were removed and kept in chilled seawater for up to an

hour until they were ready for experimentation. Some arms were suspended vertically, and others were laid out horizontally. When pinched, suspended arms recoiled from the unpleasant stimulus by shortening and curling in a corkscrew shape within one second. (After this, the arms slowly relaxed and returned to their previous length.) Tap water and acid applied to the arms evoked a similar response. Horizontal arms also moved away from the undesirable stimuli, many bending in a sort of contrived joint toward the top.

 The authors of this study believe this is due to the tentacles containing nociceptors, neurons that respond to danger. In humans and most other vertebrates these cells are controlled by the spinal column, and a severed limb will not respond to dangerous stimuli.

Some experts are saying this is evidence of 'distributed intelligence', a theory that some animals with a large proportion of neurons not located in their head have thought processes distributed throughout the body. This theory is not limited to invertebrates, and other conglomerations of neurons have been postulated as 'second brains'. This has been postulated to have occurred in some sauropod species (from fossil evidence) and even a collection of neurons in the human stomach has been called a 'second brain'.

I guess it's all still at the theory stage still, albeit with some great evidence. One thing is for sure though, there is an increasing grey area when dealing with grey matter.

Link to the research paper.

Book Review: 'More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops' by Jen Campbell

Jen Campbell, the poor lady who deals with the general public when they enter a bookshop, is back with more tales that will make you question the future of the human race.

Not all are encounters with morons, there are encounters with cool people, and funny encounters with children. And I think that some readers of her previous book are visiting her store and saying shit to get in her next book.

Here is a great example:

CUSTOMER (pulls her Kindle out of her bag): Look at it! I dropped it in the bath!
BOOKSELLER: If you did that with a book, you could just put it on the radiator and then flatten it out between two heavier books.
CUSTOMER (seriously): Do you think that would work for this, too?

This is another book full of chuckles for book nerds and cynics. It is a quick read, and there may not be much volume for your dollar, but still, laughter is pretty valuable. 

 

The Meanest/Coolest Practical Joke Ever

Analytical Chemists to the Rescue: The Syria Chemical Weapon Attack

I do not know much on the Syrian conflict and I'm not really interested in who did what, but I would like to champion the work of analytical chemists. My peeps.

From New Scientist:

"In the past, weapons inspectors have used portable equipment to run gas chromatography and mass spectrometry on the samples, which can separate the samples into their physical components and analyse them.

If this team doesn't have that equipment in the field, they would have to freeze the biological samples and ship them to a lab certified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

There's always the chance that samples will be smuggled out of Syria for analysis before the inspectors gain access. President Obama has instructed the US intelligence community to gather information about the recent attack. This may involve using covert agents to gather samples and smuggle them out of the country, as they have done in past conflicts.

Of course – the most conclusive evidence would be an analysis of the remains of the munition used to deliver the weapon. This could prove that it was a malicious attack, and what chemical was deployed."

Wow, undercover analytical chemists sneaking in gas chromatography-mass spectrometers (GC-MS). Well they are getting more and more portable as time goes on, but I'm guessing they take samples from the site to a nearby facility.

So for for the layman, chromatography = separation. So you heat things up to make a gas right? Different molecules will have different boiling points. If you heat a sample slowly and what gets turned into gas over that time period travels through a long thin tube you get a separation of whats in your sample. Put a detector on the end to tell you how much of that compound you have and you're onto a winner.

So a gas chromatograph will separate you sample and tell you how much of each part you have!

Strap all this onto the front of a mass spectrometer which helps identify structures of molecules and you have know what the molecule is!


GC-MS is a wonderful tool that kicks ass. It would be invaluable for identifying what chemical weapon was used even if it has started to degrade.

Anyway sarin is an extremely potent nerve agent and 500 times more toxic than cyanide. It was the nerve agent that the crazy Japanese cult released into a subway in the nineties.

Kevin Dart: Cartoonist and artist

Kevin Dart is cartoonist and artist, who is largely influenced by 60's illustrators like Saul Bass and Bob Peak. All his art has a very 60's feel with mid-century modern architecture and scantily-clad, boot-wearing woman abound. He worked on 'The Powderpuff Girls' for TV and over the last few years has developed short films based on his own characters. He also does a lot of advertising work.

Check out his tumblr: http://kevindart.tumblr.com/
You can buy some of his art in Australia from Outre Gallery

Simon Stalenhag: 1970s Style Science Fiction Artwork

I came across these artworks the other day by Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag. Aren't they wonderful? They remind me of 'The Tripods', John Wyndham and 'Half-Life'.

Here is a link:
Simon Stalenhag

Prints and posters are available and looks like the website gets a local supplier to make and send to you. Low cost shipping! When I have some more cash I shall buy one.

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