Tag: octopuses

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 18, 2025

Categories
Human Exceptionalism
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, chimps, Christine Webb, crows, fungi, Harvard Science Book Talk, humans, John Horgan, Johns Hopkins University, Marc Bekoff, misgendering, New Scientist, New York Times, New York University, octopuses, plants, prairie dogs, Psychology Today, songbirds, The Arrogant Ape, tools, William Egginton}

On New Book, Elite Opinion Cuts Loose from Reality

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 18, 2025

Human Exceptionalism, Scientific Reasoning

6}

All these intellectual worthies, in deadly earnest virtue, choose to miss the point. Read More ›

Conceptual image of a large stone in the shape of the human brain

^{Type
post

Author
Geoffrey Simmons

Date
September 19, 2025

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Psychology
Tagged
, ALS, animals, apes, birds, bloodhounds, brain mapping, common sense, consciousness, Deepak Chopra, Doctor's Diary (series), dolphins, electrodes, elephants, evolution, functional MRI, Gordon Gallup Jr., inner conversation, inner speech, intelligent design, Jiminy Cricket, Lampwick, magpies, Michael Egnor, mirror test, motor cortex, octopuses, paralysis, radio show, red dot test, Rottweilers, self-talk, soul, speech, Stanford University, whales}

Doctor’s Diary: To Whom Are You Talking When You Talk to Yourself?

_{Geoffrey Simmons
September 19, 2025

Neuroscience & Mind, Psychology

7}

A comment by a national radio show host recently caught my attention. “So, I said to myself, SELF! What would you do under these circumstances?” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 22, 2025

Categories
Intelligent Design
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, Ben Goldfarb, brains, captivity, chimpanzees, Chloe Stevens, Darwinian assumptions, humans, intelligence, mice, moral choice, nature, Nautilus, neurons, octopuses, pain, primates, reason, researchers, rodents, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, self-awareness}

On Fish Intelligence, We’re Misled by Darwinian Assumptions

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 22, 2025

Intelligent Design, Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

3}

The world of life is full of intelligence. Its intensity varies not with distance from the supposedly accidental human but with the life form’s need for it. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Date
March 7, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, __edited, Australian National University, cleverness, females, fish, intelligence, males, octopuses, Research, sexual selection}

Did Sexual Selection Make Male Mosquitofish Really Smart?

_{Science and Culture
March 7, 2025

Evolution, Neuroscience & Mind

3}

It’s worth considering that the fish who can solve mazes may also be better able to stay out of the way of predators than the ones who couldn’t. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
January 10, 2025

Categories
Bioethics
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, animal rights, animals, cats, coral, crabs, cuttlefish, Dogs, fetus, Jonathan Birch, lobsters, London School of Economics, Marc Bekoff, neuroscience, octopuses, pain, Psychology Today, sentience, squid}

What Do Animals Feel? And What About Babies?

_{Denyse O’Leary
January 10, 2025

Bioethics, Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

With human babies, those who propose laws against cruelty suddenly enter a Cold Zone, at least compared to their feelings for crustaceans. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
December 7, 2024

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Paleontology
Tagged
, algae, birds, chimpanzees, crows, invertebrates, Jane Goodall, Lucy, Max Planck Institute, octopuses, otters, tools}

Who (or What) First Used Tools?

_{Denyse O’Leary
December 7, 2024

Neuroscience & Mind, Paleontology

9}

It’s not stone tool use that is exclusive to humans; vultures can do that too. It’s the ability to form abstract ideas. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
August 31, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, brain circuits, endothermy, fish, intelligence, lizards, New York Times, octopuses, reptiles, warm-bloodedness}

There Is No Known Evolutionary Rule for Animal Intelligence

_{Denyse O’Leary
August 31, 2024

Evolution, Neuroscience & Mind

6}

Got a pet lizard? Good news. Scientists say it can be trained to do tasks and tricks. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 19, 2024

Categories
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Philosophy
Tagged
, amphibians, animal rights, bees, Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, cognition, consciousness, crabs, crustaceans, cuttlefish, Dan Falk, eliminative materialism, fish, fungal mind, insects, lobsters, memory, My Octopus Teacher, nature rights, Nautilus, New York University, octopuses, Phys.org, Quanta, reptiles, sentience, squid, Thomas Nagel}

What Does It Mean to Say “Lobsters Are Conscious”?

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 19, 2024

Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind, Philosophy

6}

Much will be learned from a more careful analysis of the behavior of life forms, which will likely turn up many more instances of unexpected sentience. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
March 3, 2024

Categories
Environment & Climate
Human Exceptionalism
Human Origins and Anthropology
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, abstraction, animals, archaeologists, capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, crows, debris, dolphins, hands, Harvard University, life forms, Michael Haslam, monkeys, octopuses, Oxford University, sea urchins, tools}

War on Human Exceptionalism Turns to Tool Use

_{Denyse O’Leary
March 3, 2024

Environment & Climate, Human Exceptionalism, Human Origins and Anthropology, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

As the academic war on human exceptionalism motors on, researchers’ thinking sometimes shorts out — and they don’t even notice. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
February 6, 2024

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Linguistics
Paleontology
Tagged
, burial, death, Emory University, Europe, genetic admixture, Günter Bechly, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, human origins, humans, invertebrates, life, life after death, Neanderthals, octopuses, Psychology Today, religion, symbolic thinking, uncanny valley}

Were Neanderthals Religious?

_{Denyse O’Leary
February 6, 2024

Human Origins and Anthropology, Linguistics, Paleontology

5}

We can’t poll long-dead Neanderthals on life, death, and the hereafter but the evidence we’ve dug up suggests they were thinking about that kind of thing. Read More ›