Scientists gave octopi MDMA, the results were "unbelievable"

boing
22

Pot for lobsters, MDMA for octopuses - what next? Speed for clams? Heroin for sea cucumbers? PCP for abalone?

Of course, saying that obligates you to do the opposite, you know.

4 Likes
23

oie_cf732hLIcmEe

7 Likes
24

Well, only if you are a vegetarian,

25

Rock Lobster seems a lot sadder now.

4 Likes
26

"Well, I actually trust a few people. That’s a problem.” ~ Robert Redford as Joe Turner in Three Days of the Condor

3 Likes
27

so, wait – MDMA works for octopuses, but pot doesn’t work for lobsters? does pot work for octopuses?

1 Like
28

A friend was once told “I bet you have octopus hands” by his Spanish teacher.

He thought she was coming on to him.

We looked it up, and apparently it means you are grabby/handsy.:joy:

29

Hosted by this gentleman.

1 Like
30

OK, I guess I have to nerd out on you guys. The idea that the serotonin system is very highly conserved is actually kinda cool, but not terribly surprising. If you really want to get my attention, try this on comb jellies. That is about as far from us as you can get on this planet!

1 Like
31

Yeah, I know, OK. :slight_smile: If I leave out the boring parts, it boils down to “it worked as I’d hoped, but I discovered I hadn’t really thought the whole thing through”.

I was a teenager, so I wasn’t even considering the ethical implications of love potions, I just wanted some feminine attention. And unfortunately I also hadn’t considered the whole “makes men more aggressive to about the same degree that it attracts their girlfriends” thing.

Jason wanted more control over who he was hugging when using MDMA, I wanted more control over who was hugging me!

32

In theory, you are developing a hypothesis. In practice, you hypothesis may not be testable. Which does not mean it is de-testable.

1 Like
33

That’s why I try to leave the sciencing to the scienceguys. Sometimes the words I end up using are quite de-testable.

34

Welcome to the Enchantment Under the Sea Rave!

image

3 Likes
35

DOWN

DOWN

DOWN

oh man such a bad trip

3 Likes
36

Based on my experience with abalone I think LSD or psilocybin would be a better option

3 Likes
37

Two octopus experiments I’d like to see done:

  1. Have two humans stage a heated argument in view of the octopus, and give each other the finger. Do this a few times. See if the octopus mimics the gesture the next time the experimenter tries to get the octopus to do something it doesn’t want to do.
  2. Let octopi watch TV from their tanks at night in the lab - a variety of programming. See if they watch and what they they watch. After a while show them a prison movie, with a scene showing prisoners banging on their cell bars with metal cups. The octopi will already have been given cups as toys in their tanks from day 1. See if they make the connection and begin banging their cups on the sides of their tanks. It would be absolutely fascinating if they did.
3 Likes
38

…and now I suppose we Venmo you grant money, huh?

I’m not falling for that again.

4 Likes
39

Jeff-Goldblum-GIF

5 Likes
40

Just as long as we keep the PCP away from the squid…

1 Like
41

The squid is already pretty strung out anyway.

3 Likes