How do you build a robot octopus? That, it turns out, is a question scientists around the world are racing to answer. And given that octopuses are all squish and smarts--and our robots are hard and, well, developing--it is no small task. But such a bot could be important for search and rescue operations, exploration, …
How the Freaky Octopus Can Help us Understand the Human Brain
In this month's WIRED magazine, my article "Alien Intelligence: How the Freaky Octopus Can Help us Understand the Human Brain," dives into the deeply mysterious octopus brain. This was no easy task, however. The octopus's "smarts" are distributed throughout its body--from its suckers, to its arms, to its central brain--an arrangement researchers refer to as "embodied …
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The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 is out today!
This year's anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013, edited by Siddhartha Mukherjee and Tim Folger is out today from Houghton Mifflin! It's an incredible collection that I feel honored to be included in. My article The Patient Scientist from Scientific American is featured in the collection. In it, I follow the amazing story of Ralph …
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Octopus! Review in Kirkus
Octopus! got another nice pre-publication review--this time from Kirkus Reviews! It will be in their October issue and is already up online: "Scientific American associate editor Courage explains why the octopus has been beguiling humans for millennia, making an appearance in 'creation myths, art, and, of course, cuisine.' A gourmet treat in Mediterranean countries and found in abundance …
“Recommended” review in Library Journal for Octopus!
Octopus! got a "Recommended" review in this month's Library Journal! Check it out: "Courage (contributing editor, Scientific American) conveys the many attractions and fascinating features of the octopus as she investigates its anatomy, physiology, reproduction, food hunting, and life cycle. Related to squids, cuttlefish, snails, slugs, and oysters, octopuses live all over the world, in shallow water …
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Awesome early blurbs for Octopus!
Octopus! has already received some kind early words from: Carl Zimmer, New York Times science writer and author of A Planet of Viruses and The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution: "The octopus is like an alternate experiment in intelligent life--sophisticated, alluring, and wholly alien. In her fresh, deeply-reported book, Katherine Harmon Courage makes this creature a little less …
Katherine Harmon Courage 
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