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Mr. Blabalino ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ’™
@blabalino.com

Octopus DNA is so complex, scientists still don't understand it. While all other animals on earth evolve through multiple generations, octopus DNA can change while they are alive. This started the talk about octopus "alien DNA". Scientific paper below the video.

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Mr. Blabalino ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ’™
@blabalino.com

Let me know if you can't access this paper and I'll screenshot some parts. #science www.nature.com/articles/nat...

nature.comThe octopus genome and the evolution of cephalopod neural and morphological novelties - NatureOctopus bimaculoides genome and transcriptome sequencing demonstrated that a core gene repertoire broadly similar to that of other invertebrate bilaterians is accompanied by expansions in the protocad...
Curious
@curiouscompany.ooo

Is the environment and instrument not just a condition? Could cephalopods genetically โ€œcondition themselvesโ€ in cold water?

Aster Vรฉritรฉ
@aster-verite.bsky.social

Oh, I understand it and I know this... is false. Instead of changing their permanent DNA, octopuses can recode their messenger RNA. This lets them adapt proteins in their nervous system for different water temperatures. p.s. it's autonomous, they don't say "time to reprogram the old proteins"

Mrs. G
@janbellina.bsky.social

Douglas Adams was wrong. It is not mice running the planet. Our octopus overlords have kept everything ticking over nicely, except for the dry crusty bits where a species has evolved to become so parasitic it is endangering all the other dry crusty bit dwellers and even the pristine oceans.

Celiene O'Hara
@celiene-ohara.bsky.social

We should be trying to communicate with them! They WANT contact! There are so many instances of them helping humans in the sea. They develop relationships with people. TALK to them, don't EAT THEM!!!

saepurusass.bsky.social
@saepurusass.bsky.social

Thanks for sharing a very interesting paper. I didn't understand however what do you mean by "While all other animals on earth evolve through multiple generations, octopus DNA can change while they are alive."? I found nothing like that in the paper. Could you explain, please?

Jake Bailey
@thiotrix.bsky.social

While cool, there should be no talk of "alien DNA" here especially when their genome is "broadly similar to that found across invertebrate bilaterians" except for two gene families "previously thought to be uniquely enlarged in vertebrates." That isn't aliens, that's just evolution.

ndhm.bsky.social
@ndhm.bsky.social

I always thought they were different and interesting, but only in fairly recent years, as I've read more about them in a few different aspects, I'm just amazed by them.

ndhm.bsky.social
@ndhm.bsky.social

And if you haven't seen it, you guys have to see this one that I saw on here a while ago. It's only "up to" INCH long as an adult! bsky.app/profile/amnh...

American Museum of Natural History@amnh.org

Meet Bockโ€™s pygmy octopus! Growing up to 0.98 in (2.5 cm) long, excluding tentacles, this tiny species can be found near coral reefs in parts of the Central Pacific. It is primarily active at night, using camouflage to avoid predators. Photo: smithsonian_marinegeo, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, iNaturalist

Celiene O'Hara
@celiene-ohara.bsky.social

We should be trying to communicate with them! They WANT contact! There are so many instances of them helping humans in the sea. They develop relationships with people. TALK to them, don't EAT THEM!!!

Auntie Po'kchop
@auntiepokchop.bsky.social

One day, in the far future, we'll use their DNA and others to augment our own, so we can adapt instantly to alien environments as we sail among the stars. Or they'll inherit the Earth and eventually leave to colonize space. Hooray for octopi!

UJA
@vicexx.bsky.social

Little shows our stupidity quite like dismissing the octopus as a โ€œmere invertebrateโ€ because its intelligence looks nothing like our own and then declaring ourselves superior because we fail to understand it.