Never mind the cooked octo-arm in the profile pic, Time Out New York recommends "Octopus! A Discussion of Animal Intelligence, Behavior--and Robots" on Thursday! I couldn't agree more. We'll have Jennifer Basil discussing her work with these and other amazing cephalopods, Robert Lurz philosophizing on what octopuses might think about other octopuses, and Frank Grasso describing his …
In Which I Talk Octopus With a Fellow Okie
How many Okies does it take to figure out how to pluralize "octopus"? Listen to the latest This Land radio show to find out! I got to talk octopuses with Abby Wendel, of This Land Press, in my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Do they have consciousness? Why are they so intelligent? Are they lonely, or …
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Booklist calls Octopus! “entertaining and eyeopening”
Booklist gave Octopus! a great early review! It will be in their October 15 issue--out tomorrow! "Octopuses have been around for 300 million years, surfacing in ancient mythology and various cuisines and currently living the world over in an array of several hundred species that are, to our mammalian eyes, strange, even alien. Courage, an associate editor of Scientific …
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How Do You Build a Robot Octopus?
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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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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