Octopuses! They are escape artists, they camouflage in all kinds of surroundings, and they are incredibly intelligent creatures--and that intelligence evolved completely separately from humans'. That separate evolution makes them the perfect animal to study for Dominic Sivitilli, a PhD candidate in astrobiology and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Washington.

Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) camera person Stephani Gordon visited Dominic's lab to learn about octopus intelligence, and how their arms and suckers can basically think for themselves. Aaron talks to co-host Emily Kwong about how studying octopuses can provide insight into how aliens might think.

To see the octopuses in action, watch the video story Aaron and Stephani produced for OPB's nature show Oregon Field Guide here: https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/29/want-to-study-how-aliens-might-think-look-to-the-octopus/

Is there another sea creature you want to learn more about? E-mail the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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