Scientists gave Octopi MDMA, the results were "unbelievable" / Boing Boing



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Scientists have found that the octopus genetically distant from humans is also becoming more favorable to MDMA.

Honestly, this study does not seem to me "amazing", but drugs are fun. I do not like MDMA because it makes me want to cuddle people I know.

Via Gizmodo:

The fun began when researchers gave MDMA to seven Octopus octopus bimaculoides in laboratory ponds. They hoped to test whether the animals behaved more socially after receiving a dose of MDMA – a sign that the drug was binding to their serotonin transporters.

After dragging in a bath containing ecstasy, the animals moved into a room with three pieces to pick: a center piece, one containing a male octopus and another containing a toy. This is a configuration frequently used in mouse studies. Before MDMA, octopus avoided the male octopus. According to the study published in Current Biology, after the MDMA bath, they spent more time with the other octopus. They also touched the other octopus in what appeared to be an exploratory rather than an aggressive way.

Scientists have realized that despite our very different brains, social behavior is embedded in the molecules encoded by our DNA, Dölen explained.

"An octopus does not have a cortex and does not have a reward circuit," Gizmodo Gul Dölen, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. "And yet, he is able to react to MDMA and produce the same effects in an animal with a totally different brain organization. For me, this means that we really need to understand that the activity of these companies is at the level of the molecule.

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Jason Weisberger

Jason Weisberger is the publisher of Boing Boing. Nemo is Jason's Great Pyrenees. You can find Jason on Twitter at @jlw

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