Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Science: Octopus, Anyone?
The octopus is very odd.
It is not at all like such mammals as the dog and the monkey, which have brains built on the same plan as humans, even though they are much dumber. The octopus is not a mammal, or even a vertebrate. It is a mollusk, a sort of sophisticated clam. Its brain evolved independently—and the octopus in many ways is an independent thinker. Last week University of Cambridge Zoologist Martin J. Wells was preparing to publish a fascinating study on a far-out subject: the octopus and its intellect.
The main job of any brain is to make the best...
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