WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Can Squid 'Speak' With Their Skin?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff. I'm Lauren vogel Bomb In. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is a classic from our archives. In this one, we

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<v Speaker 1>delve into the differing communication styles of squid. They can

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<v Speaker 1>create patterns on their skin to talk to each other

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<v Speaker 1>even when the parts of their brains that make the

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<v Speaker 1>talking happen are busy. Hey brain stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb here.

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<v Speaker 1>Caltech physicist Richard Feinman once said, if you think you

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<v Speaker 1>understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics. It's possible.

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<v Speaker 1>The same could be said about cephalopods, the group of

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<v Speaker 1>invertebrates that include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. The last ancestor

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<v Speaker 1>we shared with one of these living jello salads was

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<v Speaker 1>probably a worm of some kind. So our DNA is

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<v Speaker 1>basically nothing like their's, not that they care. They didn't

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<v Speaker 1>really do evolution the same way we did, but nevertheless

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<v Speaker 1>managed to independently evolve into uncannily clever camouflage artists with large,

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<v Speaker 1>complex brains, closed circulatory systems, and camera style eyes just

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<v Speaker 1>like ours, well not just like ours. The thing about

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<v Speaker 1>cephalopods is they've had five hundred million years of independent

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<v Speaker 1>evolution to figure out how to do things their own way.

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<v Speaker 1>Any test you can create to measure something in a

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<v Speaker 1>human intelligence, say, isn't going to work for an octopus,

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<v Speaker 1>which is why neurobiologists studying cephalopods have jobs not unlike

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<v Speaker 1>that of electricians figuring out the electrical grid on an

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<v Speaker 1>alien planet. We spoke with Dr Sabrina Pankey, an evolutionary

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<v Speaker 1>biologist in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences

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<v Speaker 1>at the University of New Hampshire. She said, we've known

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<v Speaker 1>for fifty years that the cephalopod brain is easily the

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<v Speaker 1>most complex among invertebrates, and also that they're dazzlingly intricate.

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<v Speaker 1>Body patterning behavior is controlled by motor centers in the brain. However,

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<v Speaker 1>the neural architecture has been much more enigmatic. Figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>the neural basis of complex behaviors is inherently difficult in

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<v Speaker 1>any animal, but trying to figure out how as squid

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<v Speaker 1>can completely change its body patterning in a matter of milliseconds,

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<v Speaker 1>or display one pattern to the squid on its left

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<v Speaker 1>and another to the one on its right, is a

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<v Speaker 1>sticky wicket. As you can imagine. One hypothesis has been

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<v Speaker 1>that body coloration is organized in the cephalopod brain somato topically,

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<v Speaker 1>that one specific part of the central nervous system is

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<v Speaker 1>solely responsible for controlling the patterning in a distinct patch

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<v Speaker 1>of skin. That's how it works in our mammalion cortex

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<v Speaker 1>after all. But a new study published in the Journal

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<v Speaker 1>of Neuroscience shows again cephalopods are not like us, and

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<v Speaker 1>are in fact very not like us. The research team

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<v Speaker 1>proposes its study subject, the oval squid, also known as

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<v Speaker 1>the big fin reef squid, achieves its skin patterning through

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<v Speaker 1>mosaic organization. That these squid actually use multiple motor centers

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<v Speaker 1>within the optic lobe of their brain to produce a

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<v Speaker 1>sin goal skin pattern like stripes, bands, or spots. The

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<v Speaker 1>fact that several parts of the brain work together it

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<v Speaker 1>wants to create a single display allows for greater complexity

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<v Speaker 1>in the resulting pattern. It would be like using multiple

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<v Speaker 1>keyboards to write the same document all at the same time.

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<v Speaker 1>We vertebrates just don't do things that way. Dr Chun

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<v Speaker 1>tin Chio, director of the Institute of Systems Neuroscience at

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<v Speaker 1>the National sing Hua University in Taiwan, and his co

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<v Speaker 1>author and student Sung Han Lieu think that because several

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<v Speaker 1>different areas of the optic lobe can be used to

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<v Speaker 1>display a single skin pattern in a specific body part

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<v Speaker 1>dark mantles, stripey tentacles, polka dot fins, that the squid

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<v Speaker 1>are able to flash about fourteen distinct patterns in the

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<v Speaker 1>blink of an eye. We tend to think of redundancy

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<v Speaker 1>as inefficient, but cephalopods have overlapping parts of their brains

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<v Speaker 1>to create specific patterns on specific body parts, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>if one part of their brain is busy, they can

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<v Speaker 1>still flash information onto their bodies with a inspiring quickness.

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<v Speaker 1>Just think if you had a bunch of different parts

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<v Speaker 1>of your brain in charge of remembering a single word,

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<v Speaker 1>your word recall skills would be amazing, GEO said via email.

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<v Speaker 1>We think this research is particularly interesting because it shows

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<v Speaker 1>how squids can efficiently modulate the expression of individual body

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<v Speaker 1>pattern components, thus changing the appearance of their body color dynamically.

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<v Speaker 1>This allows the squids to quickly switch different body patterns

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<v Speaker 1>in visual communication. Thus it is sort of like an

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<v Speaker 1>alphabet visual language. The researchers think the color patterns displayed

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<v Speaker 1>by the squid are not only used as communication signals

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<v Speaker 1>to the same species, but are also used to hide

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<v Speaker 1>or worn off other potential predators or prey. This research

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<v Speaker 1>also highlights the fact that though we vertebrates tend to

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<v Speaker 1>think we've got the best systems for doing everything, cephalopods

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<v Speaker 1>might be onto something, at least when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>efficient communication. Panky said, the way these body patterns can

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<v Speaker 1>be created thanks to various combinations of brain centers activating

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<v Speaker 1>reminds me of word creation in a glutinative languages like German.

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<v Speaker 1>There is a linguistic mechanism to create compound words that

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<v Speaker 1>then take on new meaning. Maybe eventually will know enough

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<v Speaker 1>about the cephalopod brain that we can find out whether

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<v Speaker 1>squid learn word patterns by observation or if the information

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<v Speaker 1>is hardwired, and whether different populations speak in different patterns.

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<v Speaker 1>But for now, the researchers are focusing on learning how

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<v Speaker 1>visual information from the eyes regulates body patterning in the

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<v Speaker 1>squids when they are communicating with each other in their

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<v Speaker 1>natural environments. Geo said, this will be much more difficult

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<v Speaker 1>than anything we've shown so far. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the article secret alphabet of squid skin due to

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<v Speaker 1>brains totally unlike our own on how stuff works dot Com.

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<v Speaker 1>Written by Jesslan Shields. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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