Bonus 2: Octopus and camouflage

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

BBC

Business

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2019

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 2 of our new podcast, 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter. This one is about the eight-limbed master of disguise and surveillance technology. The colour and texture-changing abilities of the octopus are helping researchers with developments in camouflage. Can we make robots do the same thing? With Patrick Aryee. www.bbcworldservice.com/30animals #30Animals

Transcript

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0:00.0	As promised, it's time for our second bonus podcast for you.
0:03.6	Episode two of 30 animals that made us smarter,
0:07.2	also from the BBC World Service. Over to Patrick I.
0:24.5	When it comes to cool animals, I've got to say the octopus is hard to beat.
0:29.0	They have three hearts. Blue blood can grow back their arms,
0:33.8	squirt ink to deter predators, and being boneless,
0:37.7	they can squeeze in and out of the smallest spaces.
0:41.7	Still not impressed? Well, when it comes to trickery and deceit,
0:45.6	these are the masters of disguise. They can not only change their colour,
0:50.4	but also the texture of their skin to match their surroundings.
0:54.1	I mean, how clever is that?
0:55.3	When they're done with swimming and want to take a break,
0:59.8	they just settle down, and without even waving a magic wand,
1:03.5	they can change their skin and simply disappear.
1:09.0	Then, when their unsuspecting prey passes by,
1:13.1	they can pounce with the greatest of ease, ingenious.
1:17.4	But also, kind of creepy. I mean, imagine if we could do the same thing,
1:22.6	change our clothing to match our surroundings.
1:25.5	It would be a pretty cool trick to play at a party,
1:27.7	but in a world of increasingly sophisticated surveillance and counter-surveillance,
1:32.5	the race to unlock the secrets of the octopus could have very high stakes indeed.
1:40.2	I'm Patrick I. And this is 30 animals that made a smarter from the BBC World Service.
	...

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