05.06.2011                      3.Siwan, 5771                      Tag 47 des Omer

Forschung:

Octopus can control one arm at a time

New Worlds: BGU researcher to promote global health after receiving grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The octopus – which has a hard beak and venom, two eyes, three hearts and four pairs of arms but no skeleton and comes in around 300 known species – has been recognized for some years as being highly intelligent, fast learners due to large brains, even though its looks don’t make it seem very clever.
The cephalopod mollusc that inhabits diverse ocean regions are, in fact, believed to be more intelligent and behaviorally flexible than any other invertebrates, and experiments involving mazes and problem solving have shown that the creatures are able to store both short- and long-term memory. And as they have very little contact with their parents, octopuses learn almost nothing from the older generation. Thus it is no surprise that the late “Paul the Octopus” living in a water tank in Germany entranced the world when he was able to pick all the winners in 2010’s World Cup soccer matches in Johannesburg….