# Apparently octopus respond to molly in a similar way that humans do **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694 "2018-09-21T18:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/1 "2018-09-21T18:09:11Z")
> **[Scientists Gave MDMA to Octopuses—and What Happened Was Profound](https://gizmodo.com/scientists-gave-mdma-to-octopuses-and-what-happened-was-1829191638)** > > When humans take the drug MDMA, versions of which are known as molly or ecstasy, they commonly feel very happy, extraverted, and particularly interested in physical touch. A group of scientists recently wondered whether this drug might have a similar... > [@](#): > > “An octopus doesn’t have a cortex, and doesn’t have a reward circuit,” Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. “And yet it’s able to respond to MDMA and produce the same effects, in an animal with a totally different brain organization. Indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/2 "2018-09-21T20:16:21Z")
I question the ethics of giving drugs to animals just to see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/3 "2018-09-21T20:22:10Z")
Imagine all the tracers he sees when he waves all eight tentacles in front of his eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/4 "2018-09-21T20:30:09Z")
They can’t stand that woman either? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/5 "2018-09-21T21:40:53Z")
Just a note - I know it sounds weird but octupi are so weird and different than most any other organism on the planet that I wouldnt be surprised if they are some sort of alien lifeform. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/6 "2018-09-21T21:47:35Z")
At least the octopus is getting _actual_ molly. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/7 "2018-09-21T23:24:18Z")
I’m as much a For Science! guy as just about anyone, but maybe we should leave the octopus alone. They are are creepily smart, creepily adaptable and just plain creepy. If they ever find a way to use fire… ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/8 "2018-09-22T01:12:46Z")
…Aannd the lyrics to “Octopus’s Garden” begin to make sense! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/9 "2018-09-22T02:31:30Z")
The scientists should watch out or the octopuses might learn how to shove 16 candles down the drain. Of to play me some Sponge! (Hmm, I wonder what happens if you feed a sponge molly?) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/10 "2018-09-22T03:01:08Z")
Octopuses on Molly, spiders on LSD, mice taking cocaine, what will those crazy scientists think of next, Pandas on heroin? [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect\_of\_psychoactive\_drugs\_on\_animals](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_psychoactive_drugs_on_animals) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/11 "2018-09-22T03:39:37Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > “An octopus doesn’t have a cortex, and doesn’t have a reward circuit,” Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. “And yet it’s able to respond to MDMA and produce the same effects, in an animal with a totally different brain organization. It isn’t actually that surprising; the gene that binds MDMA and causes the brain to release serotonin, SLC6A4, is present in cephalopods, and while the cognitive structures of the octopus brain are completely different to that of vertebrates, the basic functions of neurotransmitters are the same across all animals. Given the evident behavioral complexity of octopuses, which in many species include complex signaling, conceptual problem solving, and nearly miraculous adaptivity to novel environments, it is hardly surprising for them to display affective behaviors which underly all cognition as we know it. It is wrong, by the way to say “An octopus doesn’t have a cortex”; their neural structure is very different from vertebrates, being far more distributed, but there is still an organization to the octopus brain that includes the analogue to the cerebrum. It is difficult to speak about cephalopod neuroanatomy in general because within the class _Cephalopoda_ there are a wide variety of brain structures evidencing a much greater evolutionary diversity of cephalopods compared to all vertebrates which is unsurprising because invertebrates predate vertebrates by a good 30 Myr to 40 Myr, and without the constraint of having a nervous system built around a notochord has a much wider field of play for morphological changes. Here is a [_Science_](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/humans-octopuses-want-more-hugs-when-high-ecstasy?utm_campaign=news_daily_2018-09-20&et_rid=372394086&et_cid=2382290) article that is more precise and less sensationalist than _Gizmodo_. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Just a note - I know it sounds weird but octupi are so weird and different than most any other organism on the planet that I wouldnt be surprised if they are some sort of alien lifeform. Octopuses (not octopi) and all cephalopods share a common genetic heritage with all other animals and indeed all life on Earth. That they are very different from vertebrates is simply a result of the divergence of evolutionary paths over the more than 500 Mya since vertebrates split off from all of the other invertebrates, the latter of which vastly outnumber those of us with spinal cords. See [_Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods_](https://www.amazon.com/Squid-Empire-Rise-Fall-Cephalopods/dp/1611689236) for an evolutionary history (such as we have one) for cephalods, and [_Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness_](https://www.amazon.com/Other-Minds-Octopus-Origins-Consciousness/dp/0374537194/) for speculation on how intelligence developed independently in cephalopods than it did (much later) for land vertebrates and particularly mammals. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/12 "2018-09-22T22:24:12Z")
Hmmm, this finding sort of supports the view held by some scientists that cleanerfish do not actually perform a service that is necessary to their clients beyond “feels good man”. I thought that was a silly idea when I heard it and still am not convinced that fish don’t need their teeth cleaned (I mean, aren’t humans supposed to floss?) but it seems less wacky now. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/13 "2018-09-22T23:47:09Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > …Aannd the lyrics to “Octopus’s Garden” begin to make sense! Hmmm… check the sponsors of this research to see if there’s a “Starkey Foundation” involved. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/14 "2018-09-22T23:56:07Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Octopuses on Molly, spiders on LSD, mice taking cocaine, what will those crazy scientists think of next, Pandas on heroin? > > [Effect of psychoactive drugs on animals - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_psychoactive_drugs_on_animals) There is [this short documentary](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1uvmt2hxRFs#) on [the effects of different drugs on spidets](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/04/spiders-lsd-drugs-experiment-1971). ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/15 "2018-09-23T00:35:47Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I question the ethics of giving drugs to animals just to see what happens. I’m outraged… > [@](#): > > But on lower doses, one animal “looked like it was doing water ballet,” swimming around with outstretched arms. …that nobody took a video. Or if they did, that they didn’t release it. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2018, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/16 "2018-09-23T03:25:27Z")
The etymologically consistent plural is octopodes (oct-o-pode-ees) (note that I did not say it is necessarily correct just consistent with the Greek origin. Personally I like the sound of it) Brian ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2018, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/17 "2018-09-23T04:40:33Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > The etymologically consistent plural is octopodes (oct-o-pode-ees) (note that I did not say it is necessarily correct just consistent with the Greek origin. Personally I like the sound of it) > > Brian It IS kind of fun 🙂 The main thing though is “Octopi is definitely wrong in all cases and is never an option, and octopuses is perfectly acceptable in all cases including formal publications.” Along with “It’s not your teacher’s fault that they taught it wrong back then”. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/18 "2018-09-24T14:48:51Z")
The owner of a restaurant in Maine is [blowing pot smoke onto lobsters before boiling them](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/19/17880080/lobster-farmer-getting-animals-high-ethical). Best quote from the article: “Whether or not hotboxing a lobster’s enclosure has any effect on its final moments on this earth is almost beside the point.” ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/19 "2018-09-24T18:08:10Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > The etymologically consistent plural is octopodes (oct-o-pode-ees) (note that I did not say it is necessarily correct just consistent with the Greek origin. Personally I like the sound of it) > > Brian I was reading about octopus brains the other day (inspired by this thread) and I came across the paragraph below which sounds credible due to specific detail, but I can’t find anywhere else that agrees with it: > **[DRAGON222 : Tempat Link Slot88 Gacor Hari Ini Up To Date 2024](https://www.granddedale.com/)** > > DRAGON222 menjadi penyaji link login slot222 gacor starlight princess resmi untuk semua pecinta perjudian online Indonesia. “It is tempting to use “octopi” as the plural of “octopus”, but DON’T DO IT. “Octopi” would be a proper Latin plural, but the word “octopus” has a Greek, rather than a Latin, root. The correct use is to use the word **“octopus” to refer to one or several** individuals of a single species; use the plural **“octopuses” only when talking about multiple species**.” Is this just plain wrong, or is it maybe correct for marine biologists or something? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-octopus-respond-to-molly-in-a-similar-way-that-humans-do/821694/20 "2018-09-24T20:57:50Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I question the ethics of giving drugs to animals just to see what happens. Everybody, regardless of species, gets the first hit free. After that…