WEBVTT - How Can Squid 'Speak' With Their Skin?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbamb Here. Caltech physicist Richard Feynman once said, if

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<v Speaker 1>you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics.

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<v Speaker 1>It's possible. The same could be said about cephalopods, the

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<v Speaker 1>group of invertebrates that include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. The

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<v Speaker 1>last ancestor we shared with one of these living jello

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<v Speaker 1>salads was probably a worm of some kind. So our

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<v Speaker 1>DNA is basically nothing like their's, not that they care.

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<v Speaker 1>They didn't really do evolution the same way we did,

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<v Speaker 1>but nevertheless managed to independently evolve into uncannily clever camouflage

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<v Speaker 1>artists with large, complex brains, closed circulatory systems, and camera

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<v Speaker 1>style eyes just like ours, well not just like ours.

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<v Speaker 1>The thing about cephalopods is they've had five hundred million

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<v Speaker 1>years of independent evolution to figure out how to do

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<v Speaker 1>things their own way. Any test you can create to

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<v Speaker 1>measure some thing in a human intelligence, say, isn't going

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<v Speaker 1>to work for an octopus, which is why neurobiologists studying

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<v Speaker 1>cephalopods have jobs not unlike that of electricians figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>the electrical grid on an alien planet. We spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Dr Sabrina Pankey, an evolutionary biologist in the Department of Molecular,

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<v Speaker 1>Cellular and Biomedical Sciences at the University of New Hampshire.

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<v Speaker 1>She said, we've known for fifty years that the cephalopod

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<v Speaker 1>brain is easily the most complex among invertebrates, and also

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<v Speaker 1>that there dazzlingly intricate body patterning. Behavior is controlled by

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<v Speaker 1>motor centers in the brain. However, the neural architecture has

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<v Speaker 1>been much more enigmatic. Figuring out the neural basis of

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<v Speaker 1>complex behaviors is inherently difficult in any animal, but trying

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<v Speaker 1>to figure out how as squid can completely change its

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<v Speaker 1>body patterning in a matter of milliseconds, or display one

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<v Speaker 1>pattern to the squid on its left and another to

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<v Speaker 1>the one on its right, is a sticky wicket, as

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<v Speaker 1>you can imagine. One hypothesis has been that body coloration

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

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<v Speaker 1>specific part of the central nervous system is solely responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for controlling the patterning in a distinct patch of skin.

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<v Speaker 1>That's how it works in our mammalian cortex. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>but a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience

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

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<v Speaker 1>fact very not like us. The research team proposes its

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

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<v Speaker 1>fin reef squid, achieves its skin patterning through mosaic organization.

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<v Speaker 1>That these squid actually use multiple motor centers within the

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<v Speaker 1>optic lobe of their brain to produce a single skin

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<v Speaker 1>pattern like stripes, bands, or spots. The fact that several

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<v Speaker 1>parts of the brain work together it wants to create

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<v Speaker 1>a single display allows for greater complexity in the resulting pattern.

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<v Speaker 1>It would be like using multiple keyboards to write the

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<v Speaker 1>same document all at the same time. We've vertebrates just

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<v Speaker 1>don't do things that way, not to Chun Tin Chio,

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<v Speaker 1>director of the Institute of Systems Neuroscience at the National

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<v Speaker 1>Singhua University in Taiwan, and his co author and student

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<v Speaker 1>Sung Han Liu, think that because several different areas of

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<v Speaker 1>the optic lobe can be used to display a single

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<v Speaker 1>skin pattern in a specific body part dark mantles, stripey tentacles,

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<v Speaker 1>polka dot fins, that the squid are able to flash

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<v Speaker 1>about fourteen distinct patterns in the blink of an eye.

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<v Speaker 1>We tend to think of redundancy as inefficient, but cephalopods

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<v Speaker 1>have overlapping parts of their brains to create specific patterns

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<v Speaker 1>on specific body parts, meaning that if one part of

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<v Speaker 1>their brain is busy, they can still flash information onto

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<v Speaker 1>their bodies with a inspiring quickness. Just think if you

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<v Speaker 1>had a bunch of different parts of your brain in

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<v Speaker 1>charge of remembering a single word, your word recall skills

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<v Speaker 1>would be amazing, GEO said via email. We think this

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<v Speaker 1>research is particularly interesting because it shows how squids can

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<v Speaker 1>efficiently modulate the expression of individual body pattern components, thus

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<v Speaker 1>changing the appearance of their body color dyna amically. This

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>be onto something, at least when it comes to efficient communication.

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<v Speaker 1>Panky said, the way these body patterns can be created

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<v Speaker 1>thanks to various combinations of brain centers activating reminds me

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

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>learn word patterns by observation or if the information is hardwired,

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<v Speaker 1>and whether different populations speak in different patterns. But for now,

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<v Speaker 1>the researchers are focusing on learning how visual information from

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<v Speaker 1>the eyes regulates body patterning in the squids when they

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<v Speaker 1>are communicating with each other in their natural environments. Geo said,

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<v Speaker 1>this will be much more difficult than anything we've shown

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<v Speaker 1>so far. Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff has merchandise now. You

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<v Speaker 1>can contain your liquids, electronics, and or body in brainy

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<v Speaker 1>style by visiting t public dot com slash brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course, for lots more on this and other

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<v Speaker 1>Squidgee topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot

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