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Photo credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./J. Dinsmore et al.; IXPE: NASA/MSFC/J. Dinsmore et al., Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA; Optical: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare.

Mind Behind the Universe? A Stereotype About Scientists May Be Crumbling

Joel Kotkin points to a recent conference that brought together top engineers, mathematicians, and scientists to discuss the “new synergy.” Read More ›
Octopustentacles
Photo credit: damn_unique, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hey Octopus, How Did You Get to Be So Smart?

With the asocial brain hypothesis, researchers ask us to think beyond traditional explanations for why some animals display unexpected intelligence. Read More ›
lobster
Photo credit: David Clode via Unsplash.

What Do Animals Feel? And What About Babies?

With human babies, those who propose laws against cruelty suddenly enter a Cold Zone, at least compared to their feelings for crustaceans. Read More ›
lobster
Photo credit: David Clode via Unsplash.

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

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 ›
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Photo: California two-spot octopus, by Tom Kleindinst via Marine Biological Laboratory.

MicroRNAs: A New Clue About Octopus Intelligence?

While octopus brains are very different from vertebrate brains, they share with vertebrates, a huge number of microRNAs. Read More ›
Nectocaris
Photo credit: Martin R. Smith, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fossil Friday: Nectocaris, the Impossible Squid

Paleontology sometimes seems like a kind of imaginative Rorschach test with the flattened fauna of roadkill. Read More ›
octopus
Photo credit: Sigmund via Unsplash.

Octopus Intelligence Poses Evolutionary Convergence Conundrum

Outstandingly bright — with eyes that strikingly resemble ours — yet their ancestors split from mammals and birds 600 million years ago. Read More ›
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Photo: A large brown mantis, via Wikimedia Commons.

Do Invertebrates Have Feelings?

Just as vertebrates differ greatly in intelligence and sentience, invertebrates may differ greatly too. Read More ›
octopus
Photo credit: Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons.

Can Largely Rearranged Genomes Explain Why Octopuses Are So Smart?

Even compared to each other, the genomes of three cephalopods studied had been broken up and extensively reorganized. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Researchers Ask — Serious Question — Do Crabs Have Emotions?

Recent research has created some unexpected ethical problems for the seafood industry. Read More ›

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