CUTHULU STUDIES

Study shows octopuses' impressive ability to navigate space

Researchers demonstrate invertebrates can solve a spatial problem using a mirror.

Dartmouth College

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California two-spot octopus in front of a mirror in the Octopus Lab at Dartmouth.

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Credit: Photo by Mary Kieseler.

Octopuses are remarkably intelligent creatures, as was demonstrated by Inky the Octopus's famous escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand through a drainpipe back to sea in 2016.

A new Dartmouth study shows octopuses can use mirrors to find food out of sight, demonstrating spatial cognitive abilities. The results are published in Current Biology.

"Our findings are the first to demonstrate that invertebrates can use mirrors to understand their environment to find prey," says lead author Mary Kieseler, Guarini '25, who conducted the research as a PhD student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth and is now a postdoc at Switzerland’s University of Fribourg. "It's a skill that previously has only been documented in vertebrates, such as in some mammals and some birds."

The researchers trained three California two-spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides) in the Octopus Lab at Dartmouth to not attack a crab image that they see in a mirror but instead to infer and move to where the hidden stimulus was displayed behind them.

First, the octopuses were acclimated to the mirror in their habitat. Then, they were trained to understand how a mirror works using a live food reward—crab—which was placed in a glass jar that they could see in the mirror. To obtain the crab, the octopus had to make a 90-degree turn around a corner.

"We don't enter the world knowing how to use a mirror but learn how to use a mirror," says senior author and cognitive neuroscientist Peter Tse, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth. Just as new drivers learn to use a rearview mirror to track other vehicles, "Octopuses can also learn how to use a mirror to infer where things are in the world."

Octopuses have chemoreceptors that enable them to smell and taste by touch. So, for the experiment, the team used a virtual crab stimulus rather than a live crab. 

The octopus was placed in a start box open to the top and front and shown the virtual crab image in a mirror directly in front of the animal. The virtual crab image was projected from behind the octopus on the left or right side. Instead of the octopus going to the mirror to try and obtain the virtual crab, it went to the projection site, requiring a 180-degree turn, where it then received a live crab reward. In some cases, the octopus would climb up and over the box to the side where the crab was projected rather than exiting the box and swimming around to the side.

The results show that octopuses travelled to the correct side approximately 73% of the time.

During the trials, the team manually tracked a spot between the eyes on the mantle, which is like the head of the octopus, from overhead. The researchers also calculated the length of the paths the octopuses used to seek the reward. While they did not always choose the shortest way of travel, they became faster at going to where the stimulus was based.

"Octopuses are among the most evolutionarily distant animals from humans, as our last common ancestor was a worm that lived 350 to 500 million years ago," says Kieseler.  "Given that such a remote organism has independently evolved the means to use a mirror as a tool to process spatial cognition suggests that the underlying cognitive processes might be subject to convergent evolution, where different species evolve similar neural solutions to the same challenge."

The world in which octopuses live, mainly coral reefs and the ocean seafloor, are complex environments.

"Octopuses are like cats: they will sneak up on their prey and pounce, and they want to do so as fast as possible, so that they don't become preyed upon," Tse says.

"Hunters are very effective when they have a mental map of their territory, so that they know where they are in relation to their environments," says Tse. "Our work suggests that octopuses might also have internal maps, an internal representation of space." 

However, according to the co-authors, additional research is needed to prove this.

Kieseler is available for comment at: Marie-luise.Kieseler@dartmouth.edu.

###

 

Experiment setup for testing the octopuses’ ability to utilize the mirror.

Credit

Graphic by Mary Kieseler and Marvin Maechler.

Journal

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2026.05.012 

Article Title

Octopus bimaculoides can learn to utilize a mirror to localize a reward outside the line of sight

Article Publication Date

3-Jun-2026

More Silly Censorship

You would think that those who want to censor books and movies would learn that it always backfires and simply acts as a form of advertising for the particular work in question.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic board is conducting an informal review of The Golden Compass because concerns have been raised about the children's fantasy book in the neighbouring Halton board.

"It warrants us having a look at it," said community relations manager Bruce Campbell, adding staff members have been assigned to read the book and basically provide a plot synopsis "so we understand what it's about."

The Halton Catholic District School Board has pulled The Golden Compass – an award-winning book set to be released as a major motion picture next month – from library shelves after a complaint.

The other two books in the trilogy by British author Philip Pullman, which have been compared to the Harry Potter series, are also off the shelves for now, but available if students ask for them.

The Halton board is convening a committee to review the book and recommend whether it should be available to children.

Halton Catholic elementary principals were directed not to distribute the December Scholastic flyer because The Golden Compass is available to order.

A board-issued memo says the books are "apparently written by an atheist where the characters and text are anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion."

In the U.S., Catholic groups are urging a boycott of the movie and accuse the books of being anti-Christian and promoting atheism.

Actually even if the author is an atheist and 'anti-god' they are not particular about whose god they are opposed to. Thus to claim the author is Anti-Christian misses the point, if he is Anti-GOD, anti-theism,he is Anti-Muslim, Anti-Judaic, Anti-Buddhist,Anti-Hindu, Anti-Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster, Anti-Cuthulu, etc. etc.

It is a fantasy novel. Get over it.

And as long as public funds pay for Catholic Schools then they are 'public' schools and should not be allowed to censor 'publicly' available reading materials. If you want papal dispensation for your library you can always go private.

Of course in the U.S. they are private schools. And so this is another political campaign by the right wing fundamentalist lobby from the U.S. And of course the atheist threat is much exaggerated as we find out in this article from the Boston Globe. Mr. Kaufman is more of a religious antiestablishmentarian than an atheist. But to the Catholic church it is all heresy.

ON DEC. 7 New Line Cinema will release "The Golden Compass," starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, the first movie in a trilogy with the massive budget and family blockbuster potential of "The Lord of the Rings."

Yet, even before it opens, "The Golden Compass" finds itself at the center of a controversy. The Catholic League, a conservative religious organization, launched a campaign on Oct. 9 calling on all Catholics to boycott the film. The group also published a lengthy pamphlet attacking the story and distributed the pamphlet to Catholic schools across the country. Other groups have joined the fray, including the evangelical nonprofit Focus on the Family, whose magazine Plugged In urged parents to keep kids out of theaters showing the film. And the Christian blogosphere is alive with warnings not only about the movie trilogy, but also about the series of books it is based on.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, charges that the books, known as the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, are deeply anti-Christian. Donohue says he fears that the film will inspire parents to purchase "His Dark Materials" for their fantasy-hungry kids on Christmas, unaware that the third book of the series, "The Amber Spyglass," climaxes in an epic battle to destroy God. Some of the book's villains are referred to as the Magisterium - a term used to refer to the Catholic hierarchy. The British author, Philip Pullman, has said openly that he is an atheist, and Donohue charges that his books are designed to eradicate faith among children.

But this is a sad misreading of the trilogy. These books are deeply theological, and deeply Christian in their theology. The universe of "His Dark Materials" is permeated by a God in love with creation, who watches out for the meekest of all beings - the poor, the marginalized, and the lost. It is a God who yearns to be loved through our respect for the body, the earth, and through our lives in the here and now. This is a rejection of the more classical notion of a detached, transcendent God, but I am a Catholic theologian, and reading this fantasy trilogy enhanced my sense of the divine, of virtue, of the soul, of my faith in God.

The book's concept of God, in fact, is what makes Pullman's work so threatening. His trilogy is not filled with attacks on Christianity, but with attacks on authorities who claim access to one true interpretation of a religion. Pullman's work is filled with the feminist and liberation strands of Catholic theology that have sustained my own faith, and which threaten the power structure of the church. Pullman's work is not anti-Christian, but anti-orthodox.

And of course the novel and the movie has witches in it, which is always a good reason for Christian fundamentalists to bash fantasy novels.

Witches who rule the northern skies and creatures that manifest themselves as people’s souls have been brought to life by the latest special effects in The Golden Compass, the year’s most eagerly awaited film. These are shown here for the first time after Philip Pullman declared that the screen version of his classic story lived up to what he was trying to achieve when he put pen to paper.

And while the Toronto Star Article first quoted above about the Dufferin school district claims that the author confesses he wants to 'Kill God' here is what he really said.

One movie getting maximum publicity is "The Golden Compass," starring megastars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The film opens Dec. 7, and what a film it is for the Christmas season.

Cineastes should know it is an adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Though Mr. Pullman's sales don't come close to those of J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, they are well into the millions. A literate and gifted author, he is not conventional regarding religious matters.

If you want the full, fascinating details of why you might not put his works at the top of Santa's list for young children, check out the well-documented article "How Hollywood Saved God," by Hanna Rosin, in the December Atlantic.

In the first paragraph, Miss Rosin quotes Mr. Pullman referring to C.S. Lewis' classic Chronicles of Narnia children's series as "morally loathsome." He also told her that his work was Narnia's moral opposite: "That's the Christian one. And mine is the non-Christian one." Despite his take on religion, Mr. Pullman's stories are marvelously inventive.

Non-Christian does not equate with Anti-Christian. And being Anti-Church, as in Catholic Church also does not equate with being Anti-Christian, just ask Hus, Wycliffe, or Luther. And the smear about killing god in his novels is being promoted of course by Christians.

And when you dig underneath the political discourse it always all about equating the 'other' religion or even anti-religion as being a lure of Satan.

One of my favorite writers and philosophers, Joseph Campbell, says in his tome Hero With a Thousand Faces, "It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest," and I find that quote particularly relevant in any discussion of The Golden Compass. Does Pullman's exploration of his own ideas around organized religion invalidate the insights of Christianity? The truth is, this is more than a movie, it's a representation of a particular world-view and set of ideas. If it wasn't, it would matter neither to the Christians who consider it a heretical tool to lure children into Atheism (I guess that makes Atheism the new Satanism) that the film exists, nor to the Atheists that New Line has reportedly watered down author Philip Pullman's ideas to make it more palatable to the Christian Right. But does the fact that the film is about religion mean that people of faith shouldn't see it and discuss it?

And if you ask early Gnostic Christians about that they will tell you the Devil is in the details.


SEE:

Wicca Bashing

Out Of The Hogwarts Broom Closet

The Ethnic Cleansing of Satanists

Islamicists and Evangelical Christians

The War Against Secular Society

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pagan, paganism, witch, J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter, novels, paganism, ,
US, UK, anti-god, atheist, heresy,Wicca, school, pagans, witchcraft, neo-pagans, censorship, books, Christians, magic, Britain, library, religion,private schools, Ontario, Dark Materials" Christians, The Golden Compass, education, public schools, Philip Pullman, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Dufferin-Peel Catholic board,

Kraken Good Read

A very interesting post on the Kraken in Pop Matters. While the American author eruditely espouses the role of the giant squid in literature, myth and lore, as well as recent scientific research, he somehow misses any reference to the ultimate giant octopi/squid; Cthulhu and the works of American master of the macabre H.P.Lovecraft.

Especially since he begins his essay referring to the Pirates of the Caribbean. I would have thought this to obvious to miss. Davey Jones is modeled on pop culture versions Lovecraft's Cthulhu.

Along with giant octopi who sleep at the bottom of the sea dreaming eldrich thoughts, Lovecraft had a fascination with giant worms.








See;

sea monsters

There Be Monsters

CUTHULU TWO


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The Dead Dead Sea

Now why does this headline strike me as darkly ironic in a Lovecraftian fashion......The Dead Sea is Dying. Perhaps because I thought it was already Dead.

As Lovecraft wrote; "That is not dead, which can eternal lie. Yet with strange eons, even death may die".

And the reaon is as usual the use of water for irrigation in an area that should not be irrigated, sort of like the area around Lethbridge in Southern Alberta. And as usual having created an environmental disaster the solution is itself a disaster in the making!

Irrigation has lowered water level

Rescue plan 'will make things worse'

Only a minute’s walk from the fast-receding coastline of the Dead Sea is the starkest evidence of what environmentalists have feared for years. Decades of a policy to drain water from the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River to turn the deserts green have inflicted a heavy cost — the shrinking of the Dead Sea, and the alarming appearance of fissures and sinkholes on its shores.

See

Environment

Lovecraft


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Space Vampires

Is a novel by my favorite angry young man of modern philosophy; Colin Wilson. It was made into the Sci-Fi movie Lifeforce, by Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper. Great book, great film. The novel is a pastiche of H.P.Lovecraft's Cuthulu Mythos, with the usual dash of Wilsons Faculty X, magick by any other name. And lo and behold if one day in the far distance of cold space a real space vampire appears. One that cannot be countered with crosses and garlic.


Astronomers have found possible proofs of stellar vampirism in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae.

Blue stragglers are unexpectedly young-looking stars found in stellar aggregates, such as globular clusters, which are known to be made up of old stars. These enigmatic objects are thought to be created in either direct stellar collisions or through the evolution and coalescence of a binary star system in which one star 'sucks' material off the other, rejuvenating itself. As such, they provide interesting constraints on both binary stellar evolution and star cluster dynamics. To date, the unambiguous signatures of either stellar traffic accidents or stellar vampirism have not been observed, and the formation mechanisms of Blue stragglers are still a mystery.

See:

Space

Portrait of the Artist As Jack the Ripper

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vampires, vampirestars, stellarvampires, space, spacevampires, Colin, Wilson, Hubble, Lifeforce, Tobe, Hooper, movies, novels, Lovecraft, horror, sf, vampire, dracula

Bermuda Triangle

Who says there is nothing new under the sun? Or in this case in the ocean where the sun never shines.

Monsters from beneath the Bermuda Triangle
In the permanently dark waters beneath the Bermuda Triangle, scientists have uncovered a remarkably diverse range of extraordinary sea creatures. Retrieving tiny sea animals - zooplankton - at depths of up to three miles, and even reading their genetic codes on a rolling sea, scientists carrying out a census of marine life have revealed new details about the role of these fragile creatures in the climate and food chain, from fish to whales.

And of course food for Cthulu's relatives.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
species, zooplanketon, Bermuda-Triangle, monsters, sea-monsters, Atlantic, Ocean, ocenography, biology, zoology,
octopi, squid, octopus, whales, Cthulu, Cuthulu