One of the most unusual creatures on Earth. Scientists reveal the secret of the octopus nervous system

Scientists from the University of Chicago have uncovered the secret of the octopus' nervous system, which is one of the most unusual on Earth. They learned about a critical mechanism that ensures the exceptional movements of its eight arms and hundreds of suction cups.

Octopuses are famous for their impressive versatility in maneuvering through their environment. They utilize the incredible dexterity of their arms, bending and twisting with almost infinite freedom of movement. The latest study will help not only to understand the way these marine life navigate the world but may even become the basis for future soft robot designs, Science Alert writes.

"If you have a nervous system that controls such dynamic movements, this is a good way to tune it. We think that this feature evolved in soft-bodied cephalopods with suction cups to make these worm-like movements," neuroscientist Clifton Ragsdale comments on the study.

The nervous system of the octopus is one of the most unusual on Earth. Unlike other intelligent animals, it is highly branched. A large part of its 500 million neurons are distributed between its eight arms. In fact, there are more neurons in an octopus' arms than in its head.

Their arms are able to make decisions on their own and can even continue to respond to stimuli after they are cut off. Each of them has more degrees of freedom than we can count. And any of its hundreds of suction cups, which can "sense" the chemical composition of the environment in which the octopus lives, can change shape on its own.

The neurons in an octopus' arms are concentrated along an axial nerve cord that runs undulating along each arm, with nodes centered around each of the suckers. This seems complex and purposeful, and the team, led by neuroscientist Cassidy Olsen, wanted to study this process in detail to see if they could learn more about how it works.

They placed longitudinal sections of the arm of the California bimaculoides octopus under the microscope and discovered something they had never seen before. Along the axial nerve cord, neural cells are packed into segments separated by what appear to be partitions, which are rich in connective tissue where nerves and veins exit to connect with nearby muscles. The octopus uses these to sense its environment through touch.

By following these connections, the researchers found that nerves from several segments connect to different muscle areas. This suggests that the segments work together to control muscles with a high degree of precision.

According to Tech Explorist, scientists have called this sensorimotor mapping "sukeroptics," a term that emphasizes the complex control system that allows octopuses to accurately navigate and manipulate their environment.

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