Ecstasy… MDMA… molly… whatever you call it, scientists want to know more about how it works and are using octopuses to find out.
(Side note: yes, the plural of octopus is “octopuses,” not “octopi.”)
Researchers at John Hopkins University put the hand-sized creatures in a beaker filled with seawater and MDMA, which was absorbed through their gills.
While octopuses normally avoid each other, they were more social while on the drug, hugging the cage and putting their “mouth parts” on the cage. Lead author Gül Dölen said, “This is very similar to how humans react to MDMA; they touch each other frequently.”
Despite a difference of more than 500 million years of evolution and having brains that are more similar to those of snails, while on MDMA, the octopuses were able to exhibit some of the same actions as people. The analysts hope to eventually use the animals for brain research.
