One the things I love about blogging is that I routinely get to write true headlines I could never even make up if I tried.
This week, scientists at John Hopkins Medical Center conducted a study to test the similarities between the brains of humans and octopuses. While it was known to some degree that the aquatic animals had some level of similarities to our land-dwelling species, this experiment had a few out of the box parameters.
In short: scientists soaked the octopuses' water with MDMA to see if the psychoactive drug had the same effects on them as it does with humans. If the results proved to be similar, then it would mean the brains of octopuses are much more similar to humans than once thought. This is because psychoactive drugs require a set of neurotransmitters and unique brain structure to actually have an effect.
Interesting, but expected findings
As you might expect the animals became really, really good friends. The species of octopus that was put to the test is usually violent when two males are in the same tank together. Once they were dosed with MDMA they became shockingly friendly. One media outlet even explained that the animals passed out together after socializing for hours.
Scientists were quick to say that while the results were promising, they need to be replicated in order to confirm the findings. So if you are ever confronted by an octopus in the wild, do not fear – just split a pinger with it and find out more about yourself than you had previously known.
Source: TIME
