Researchers have shown that the suckers of octopuses are covered with specialised receptors that allow them to taste by touching things. Similar receptors are also found in squid, but there are differences that mirror differences in the animals’ hunting behaviours; while octopuses feel for their prey, squid pull things towards themselves before deciding whether or not to eat it.
Research article: Kang et al.
Research article: Allard et al.
Nature video: How octopuses taste with their arms
How climate change has been linked to a devastating avalanche in the Italian Alps, and evidence of hallucinogenic drug use in prehistoric Europe.
Research Highlight: A glacier’s catastrophic collapse is linked to global warming
Research Highlight: Hair buried in a cave shows hallucinogen use in ancient Europe
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, what climate scientists can learn from medieval descriptions of lunar eclipses; how to retrieve rock samples from the surface of Mars; and the ongoing debate about whether T. rex had lips.
Nature News: Medieval accounts of eclipses shine light on massive volcanic eruptions
Nature News: Mars rocks await a ride to Earth — can NASA deliver?
Nature News: Facelift for T. rex: analysis suggests teeth were covered by thin lips
Vote for How the Black Death got its start in the ‘Best Individual Episode: Science & Education’ category.
Vote for Racism in Health: the harms of biased medicine in the ‘Limited-Series & Specials: Health, Science & Education’ category.
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ancient mud reveals the longest record of climate from the tropics
Higgs boson at 10: a deep dive into the mysterious, mass-giving particle
Coronapod: detecting COVID variants in sewage
Higgs boson turns ten: the mysteries physicists are still trying to solve
Ed Yong on the wondrous world of animal senses
Norovirus could spread through saliva: a new route for infection?
Audio long read: These six countries are about to go to the Moon
Coronapod: USA authorises vaccines for youngest of kids
How science can tackle inequality
How the Black Death got its start
Coronapod: COVID and smell loss, what the science says
Ancient 'giraffes' sported thick helmets for headbutting
Audio long read: The brain-reading devices helping paralysed people to move, talk and touch
Robot exercises shoulder cells for better tissue transplants
Coronapod: 'A generational loss' - COVID's devastating impact on education
X-ray analysis hints at answers to fossil mystery
How galaxies could exist without dark matter
Coronapod: 'viral ghosts' support idea that SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs could be behind long COVID
Retinas revived after donor's death open door to new science
Swapping in a bit of microbial 'meat' has big eco-gains
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free