Swamp Stomp

Volume 18 Issue 44

When you look at an octopus, it doesn’t appear to even remotely resemble a human. From its eight arms to its strange movements, it looks almost alien. In fact, though, it turns out that octopuses are very smart, social, and in many ways, not too different from humans. Gul Dolen, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Eric Edsinger, an octopus researcher at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, discovered this in a rather unique study involving octopus behavior and the drug ecstasy.

Ecstasy, or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine(MDMA), is found most often at parties. In humans, ecstasy causes a variety of reactions in the brain. Fear is reduced and empathy is induced, and the result is a feeling of overwhelming euphoria, often experienced at electronic dance music (EDM) festivals. When ecstasy enters the bloodstream, the molecules of the drug bind to a protein that regulates the flow of serotonin into and out of neurons. This causes a flood of serotonin, which is responsible for the change of behavior in humans. Interestingly, in octopuses, the drug reacts in the same way.

Hoping to discover more about how the brain controls social behaviors, Dr. Dolen dosed octopuses with ecstasy. Before the drug, the octopuses stayed mostly to themselves, ignoring the other octopuses in the tank and spending most of their time with a Star Wars figurine on the opposite end of the tank. But once the ecstasy was given, the octopuses let loose and enjoyed the company of their fellow octopuses. Some even displayed affection, hugging an overturned orchid pot that protected another octopus and showing off their mouths, another sign of affection.

A major takeaway from this experiment is that somehow, despite being separated by 500 million years of evolution, humans and octopuses share a portion of their brain chemistry. This may seem like a small accomplishment, but when our current conception of the brain is so small, this finding could result in huge advances. If we can understand more completely how the octopus brain functions, we may be able to more completely understand how the human brain functions. The list of neurological diseases is long, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s among others, and most do not have any known cure. Perhaps octopuses on ecstasy could be the key to finding these cures.

Source:

Klein, JoAnna. “On Ecstasy Octopuses Reached out for a Hug.” New York Times. New York Times. September 20, 2018. Web. October 21, 2018.