{"id":120049,"date":"2024-10-30T12:01:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T05:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120049"},"modified":"2024-10-30T12:01:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T05:01:47","slug":"mysterious-secrets-of-octopus-arms-revealed-in-unprecedented-detail-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120049","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious Secrets of Octopus Arms Revealed in Unprecedented Detail : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Compared with the arms of an octopus, our own bony limbs are about as flexible as old tree branches. It stands to reason that the anatomy within the cephalopod&#8217;s sucker-speckled appendages ought to be as unique as the animals themselves.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Mapping the weave of nerves and muscles within octopus arms has until now been challenged by the sheer complexity of the task, limiting studies to collecting two-dimensional slices and guessing at how they might stitch together.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Now, two studies from evolutionary biologist Robyn Crook&#8217;s laboratory, at San Francisco State University, have revealed an unprecedented level of detail in the tissues of what some claim to be the closest thing to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/hoyle-wickramasinghe-thesis-cometary-biology-octopus-alien-retroviruses\">alien on Earth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Having [these two papers] converging at the same time means the amount we can learn from any single experiment is just astronomically higher,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/campusmemo.sfsu.edu\/2024\/october-28-2024\">says<\/a> Crook.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would say these papers are really facilitating discovery in new ways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Watching an octopus search for prey is like watching ink flow with purpose. Devoid of bones, its musculature warps, twists, extends, and reaches with a balance of strength and dexterity virtually unmatched in the animal kingdom.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Previous studies have provided a broad understanding of the interactions between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/watch-scientists-film-octopus-gymnastics-for-ultimate-test-in-animal-flexibility\">oblique and longitudinal muscles<\/a>, and how hundreds of millions of neurons gather in clusters, called ganglions, to give each arm its own level of control, like soldiers in a well-disciplined unit, loyal to the cause yet capable of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/here-s-how-octopus-arms-make-decisions-without-input-from-the-brain\">individual problem-solving<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/here-s-how-octopus-arms-make-decisions-without-input-from-the-brain\"> <\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>But just as the human brain is a web of diverse classes of neuron operating under the direction of a wide variety of neurotransmitters, the nervous systems of octopus arms ought to have a level of neurochemical organization that allows them to move, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/octopus-can-taste-things-with-their-eight-arms-here-s-how\">sense<\/a>, and think with a degree of autonomy.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Crook and her team undertook two separate investigations to reconstruct the arrangements and classifications of nerves running down the arms of Bock&#8217;s pygmy octopus (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Octopus_bocki\"><em>Octopus bocki<\/em><\/a>) specimens.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2024.08.049\">One experiment<\/a>, led by neuroscientist Gabrielle C. Winters-Bostwick, used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nmeth1204-186a\">a form of DNA technology<\/a> to tag and identify distinct types of nerve cells. Taking high-resolution images of the arms from tip to top with a recently-acquired cutting edge microscope showed how each class of nerve cell was distributed in three dimensions, revealing distinctions in their populations throughout the limb.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141738\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141738\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_nerve_cells_arm.jpg\" alt=\"octopus neuron classes\" width=\"642\" height=\"654\" class=\"wp-image-141738 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_nerve_cells_arm.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_nerve_cells_arm-407x415.jpg 407w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_nerve_cells_arm-600x611.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141738\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nerve cord in an octopus arm, revealing distinct populations of neurons. (Winters-Bostwick et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2024.08.049\"><em>Current Biology<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;This allows us to start hypothesizing and posing new questions thinking about how the cells communicate with one another,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/campusmemo.sfsu.edu\/2024\/october-28-2024\">says<\/a> Winters-Bostwick.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s basically building our arsenal and our toolkit to better understand the behavior and physiologies of octopuses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>A second investigation, led by biologist Diana Neacsu, applied electron microscopy to reconstruct the architecture of neurons, muscles, and skin, demonstrating how the different tissues connect and relate.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The alternative 3D map revealed surprising patterns in the animal&#8217;s cortex, oblique connections of the intramuscular nerve cords, repeated structures containing nerve ganglions and blood vessels, which corresponded with sucker positions, and a curious arrangement of rare, oversized nerve cells within the cell layers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141737\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141737\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_arm_anatomy.jpg\" alt=\"study illustration of octopus arm anatomy\" width=\"642\" height=\"654\" class=\"wp-image-141737 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_arm_anatomy.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_arm_anatomy-407x415.jpg 407w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/10\/octopus_arm_anatomy-600x611.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141737\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sections of an octopus arm, revealing connections of nerves, muscle, and skin. (Neascu and Crook, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2024.09.007\"><em>Current Biology<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having an atlas of octopus anatomy is just the beginning for learning how a mollusc behaves in such a relatable manner, having followed such a distinct evolutionary pathway.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why do you have an animal with this much complexity that doesn&#8217;t seem to follow the same rules as our other example \u2013 humans \u2013 of a very complex nervous system?&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/campusmemo.sfsu.edu\/2024\/october-28-2024\">says<\/a> Crook.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of hypotheses. It might be functional. There might be something fundamentally different in the tasks octopus arms have to do. But it could also be an evolutionary accident.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This research was published in <em>Current Biology<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/fulltext\/S0960-9822(24)01164-3\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/current-biology\/fulltext\/S0960-9822(24)01219-3\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/mysterious-secrets-of-octopus-arms-revealed-in-unprecedented-detail\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Compared with the arms of an octopus, our own bony limbs are about as flexible as old tree branches. It stands to reason that the anatomy within the cephalopod&#8217;s sucker-speckled &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120049\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}