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In 2024, actress and comedian Amy Poehler appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers and is asked if she believes any conspiracy theories. The first thing she says is she thinks octopuses are aliens. It gets a big laugh, but maybe the theory isn't all that far from the truth.
These creatures have instantaneous camouflaging skills, along with three hearts and eight arms that contain more neurons than their brain. There's no denying they are alien-like. Not to mention, Amy isn't alone in believing this theory. In 2018, a team of 33 scientists authored a research paper suggesting that an octopus swimming the Earth's oceans today...
may actually have extraterrestrial origins.
Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy. You can find us here every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at The Conspiracy Pod, and we would love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Today, we're diving deep into the ocean world of the octopus. A
A quick note, because the plural form of the word is hotly debated, we're going to stick with octopuses. Stay with us.
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But it's safe to say the idea that octopuses aren't from this planet blows up in 2018. That's the year a controversial paper is published titled Cause of Cambrian Explosion, Terrestrial or Cosmic?
The team of 33 scientists who wrote the paper argue that the class of marine animals known as cephalopods might have extraterrestrial origins. The octopus, they say, is an especially good candidate for this theory. Now, they aren't suggesting that the octopus came here on an advanced spacecraft from another galaxy.
Rather, they say microscopic organisms could have hitched a ride to Earth on board comets or meteorites millions of years ago. These eventually made their way into the evolutionary tree, producing the strange and mysterious animal we know today. To understand their argument fully, we have to back up a few billion years. Scientists believe life on Earth began about three and a half billion years ago.
The oldest living organisms we know of were tiny microbes that could survive without oxygen. But there's some debate about how those first organisms spring to life. Most experts subscribe to a theory called abiogenesis. To put it simply, it means the first living creatures were created from non-living matter. Life from non-life.
In the 1920s, two scientists working independently from each other came to similar conclusions on how a biogenesis could happen. This became known as the primordial soup theory, and it suggested the conditions in which life could have been created from a bunch of non-living materials when an energy source was introduced.
Then, in the 1950s, these conditions were actually simulated in a lab. The experiment put the abiogenesis theory to the test. First, they created a simulation of the Earth's early atmosphere and ocean. Then, for a week, they kept the solution heated and introduced electrical pulses. In the end,
They created amino acids and other organic molecules, building blocks of life, just as the theory predicted. Today, there are other offshoots of the abiogenesis theory, but the general idea remains the same, that it's possible, under the right conditions, to create life out of non-life.
Add in a few billion years of evolution and you get the vast array of species on Earth today, including the octopus. Now, there's another theory about how life on Earth originated called panspermia. It says there's life throughout the universe and it arrived on Earth on board a celestial body.
These comets, asteroids, and meteorites could hypothetically deliver organic materials and even bacteria and viruses to our planet, which in turn could have sparked the beginnings of life as we know it. The theory serves as a jumping off point for the 2018 research paper.
Its authors say panspermia could be the cause of the Cambrian explosion, when the Earth saw a huge burst in the evolution of different types of organisms. Perhaps, they suggest, this sudden emergence of new species over 500 million years ago was caused by the arrival of alien organisms on meteorites. They use the octopus as an example.
There's no doubt these animals are intelligent. They can problem solve, use tools, and tell humans apart from one another. The authors of the paper say evolution doesn't account for all of these amazing qualities.
Octopuses are so vastly different from their presumed ancestor, the nautiloid, that there could be another explanation. They aren't earthlings. The researchers suggest a couple of scenarios. One.
that an alien virus came here on a meteorite or other celestial body, infected some very distant cousins, and created an alien hybrid we know as the octopus. Or two, that octopus embryos could have landed on Earth circa 275 million years ago. Even the scientists behind the paper admit this theory goes against what's commonly accepted. But...
Is it possible? Well, we do know that meteorites fall to the Earth all the time. We've discovered over 50,000 of them, most of which were originally parts of larger asteroids. And we've identified 190 impact craters on our planet, remnants of major collisions that occurred long before humans evolved.
And that evidence only points to relatively recent visits from these celestial bodies in the scheme of things. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find proof of meteorites or asteroids from hundreds of millions of years ago. Natural processes like erosion would have covered up the telltale signs. It's why astronomers can't prove the theory that our planet was bombarded with asteroids about four billion years ago.
But there are those who think that's exactly what happened. The theory goes that back when our solar system was young, the orbits of the largest planets shifted, sending the asteroid belt crashing into Earth, Venus, and Mercury. The moon was also hit hard, which could explain its craters and the lunar rock samples indicating multiple points of impact from long ago. So,
It's possible that multiple asteroids landed here before the first signs of life. Could they have been carrying organic materials that eventually became Earth's first inhabitants? As it turns out, asteroids and meteors can transport certain building blocks of life through space.
In 2022, an international team of researchers announces they've been tracking which organic molecules are found on meteorites that have fallen to Earth.
And they've finally discovered all five of the nucleobases necessary for DNA and RNA to do their jobs. That gets them even more excited about an asteroid named Bennu. Bennu is relatively small. At its widest point, it's about as long as the Empire State Building.
It passes by Earth roughly every six years, which allows NASA to collect a sample from it while it's still in orbit in 2023. Studying the sample, they discover the rock forming Bennu dates back about 4.5 million years. Scientists think it broke off of a much larger asteroid the size of Connecticut. And...
They find that the asteroid contains organic compounds. Thousands of them, including all five of the nucleobases we mentioned that allow DNA and RNA to operate, as well as 14 of the 20 amino acids Earth life needs to make proteins.
Bennu even shows signs of water that had evaporated. It's the first time that all of these compounds and more have been found together on one sample. Scientists say these recent findings don't mean that panspermia has overtaken abiogenesis as the prevailing theory. But they do add to the evidence that, quote, "...chemical reactions in asteroids can make some of life's ingredients."
which could have been delivered to ancient Earth by meteorite impacts or perhaps the infall of dust. End quote. And let's not forget the tardigrade. These tiny eight-legged creatures can measure up to 1.5 millimeters in size, but put them under a microscope and you'll see how they get their nickname.
water bears. They're known for being incredibly hardy, able to withstand harsh conditions under the sea, in the mountains, in boiling hot water, even in the vacuum of space. So perhaps panspermia is technically possible. But as for the octopus having alien genes, or even arriving here as fully formed embryos,
Critics of that theory say the octopus's genetic code provides all the clues we need to answer that question. This episode is brought to you by the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. When the sun sets, the city transforms, the skyline glows, the energy surges, and the night comes alive. At the heart of it all is the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, a luxury resort destination where bold experiences unfold.
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Get 15% on your first order at paleovalley.com. Just use code PALEO at checkout. The 2018 paper, Cause of Cambrian Explosion, Terrestrial or Cosmic, Makes Waves. Even though it covers a lot of ground, people really latch onto the theory about octopuses having alien origins, which is covered in just one of the paper's 19 sections.
A lot of the attention from the scientific community is somewhat negative. Biologists and evolutionary experts race to rebut the paper's claims. They say there's no empirical evidence to support the alien theory and plenty of proof that the octopus evolved on Earth. One scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Germany writes, quote,
The main statement about viruses, microbes, and even animals coming to us from space cannot be taken seriously. Let's talk about what we do and don't know about this animal's evolution. They actually don't have a very extensive fossil record because they're mostly made of soft tissues. Their small beaks are the only hard parts of their bodies.
Still, there have been some notable finds, like one fossil dating back some 165 million years. It offered some proof that the octopus was already appearing in a variety of sizes and shapes at that time. Then there's the oldest fossil of an octopus ancestor from 330 million years ago.
Now that helped pin down a general timeline. We know they've been around since before the time of the dinosaurs.
Of course, there's another way scientists can study evolution by looking at a species genetic code. In 2015, a different team of researchers sequenced the octopus genome and published their findings in Nature. They discovered that the California two-spot octopus genome is five to six times larger than other invertebrates. It's nearly as extensive as the human genome.
We have about 3 billion base pairs of DNA, while they have 2.7 billion. The size of a genome doesn't always mean an animal is more complex. But in this case, experts say it helps explain why the octopus is so much more advanced than some of its ancestors and cousins. Not because it's an alien, but because its genes allow it to adapt well.
For example, it has especially large gene families that help with functions like neuron development, which could account for the octopus's ability to learn to become intelligent.
Plus, even though humans have more base pairs of DNA, an octopus has more protein-coding genes than we do. Meaning, the genes that contain the instructions for how our body makes the proteins that keep us alive. Another study takes this a step further.
In 2017, a paper published in the journal Cell found that some cephalopods can mutate these proteins in a lot more places than we can, which might also help them adapt and evolve efficiently. And the opponents of the octopus alien theory say that's a more credible explanation than microbes from outer space. There's another factor to consider too.
natural selection. These animals live in a wide range of places and climates. They're found in every ocean on Earth, and they're mostly made of muscle and soft tissues, so they deal with a lot of different predators. Unless they want to become dinner, they have to adapt and problem-solve. Over time, they got better and better at these skills.
Natural selection, along with their complex genome and cognitive skills, could explain why the octopus evolved to have instant camouflage, and why they're widely considered one of the smartest invertebrates. It was simply a case of survival. Here's the thing: even those who oppose the alien octopus paper from 2018 say it brought up an interesting idea.
They concede. Just because it challenges what most scientists accept right now, doesn't mean it's not worthy of discussion. The paper did go through a rigorous peer review process, just like any other article published in any other credible journal. And the authors say they were aware they would be met with resistance. They knew they were putting forth a radical idea.
They just felt the risk was worth it. They may have been right, because the paper immediately stokes the flames of public curiosity. It seems like people want to believe that octopuses could be aliens, despite there being more evidence to the contrary.
Which might be due to confirmation bias. That's the tendency to interpret information in a way that fits our existing beliefs. It's something we all fall for from time to time. Sometimes confirmation bias can be harmful. But thinking that the local aquarium might be unwittingly hosting an alien...
That's just kind of fun. According to Eric Dorfman, a former Natural History Museum director with a background in marine science, it's easy to accept the alien theory because octopuses do seem like aliens. They're incredibly unique among animals.
Even the experts who study them often refer to them as aliens, metaphorically speaking. They have three hearts, their eight arms are lined with extremely sensitive suckers, just one of which can perform the same duties as a human finger, nose, and tongue all rolled into one. And if you were to cut off one of their tentacles, not only would it keep moving until it ran out of oxygen,
It would even appear to continue thinking on its own, or even using its suckers to crawl.
Smithsonian Magazine describes one experiment in which a detached arm attempted to move a piece of food up to where the octopus's mouth should be. As for the octopus, if it loses an arm, it can simply regrow it. Humankind has a long-held fascination with the octopus. They appear as far back as ancient creation myths.
Other legendary tales described giant tentacled sea monsters like the Kraken. And they've made their way into pop culture and literature. H.P. Lovecraft's fictional Cthulhu is described as having an octopus-like head. Today, they make for lighthearted news stories. In 2016, staff at the New Zealand National Aquarium arrived one morning to find an empty tank.
Their octopus, Inky, was missing, and they realized the lid to his enclosure wasn't secured, but his escape route wasn't obvious, leaving his handlers scratching their heads. Their best guess was that he'd squeezed up over the top of his tank and down the side, slithered across the floor about 10 feet, and disappeared down a pipe that led to the sea.
Go Inky. Eric Dorfman says, time and again, we're drawn to these mysterious creatures and to stories about aliens. So even if genetics can mostly explain how the octopus evolved, we gravitate toward the idea that we're already comfortable with for all of their amazing traits. Most experts maintain that the octopus originated on Earth.
They're probably not extraterrestrials living among us, but what if they could teach us about real aliens?
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Dominic Civitilli is a postdoc researcher at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab. He began studying octopus cognition when he was a graduate student in psychology and astrobiology. My interest there was really to get an idea of what animal behavior was like beyond the vertebrate model. I felt like to really understand the mind, to really understand psychology, it's good to get an idea of what it's like beyond the vertebrate model.
vertebrates because vertebrates is the primary prevailing model in psychology. Yet vertebrates only make up like 5% of animal diversity. His interest in octopuses started back when he was taking a course in marine invertebrate zoology. One day, Domak's class noticed they had an uninvited guest in their lab. A red octopus had made its way into the building while hiding inside a bivalve. Watching it,
Dominic realized that the mental processes behind its behavior made the octopus stand out from anything else he'd studied. So when he became a graduate student and then a postdoc researcher, he focused his studies on the octopus. Specifically, the behaviors and strategies an octopus uses to control its arms. Despite all of the obvious differences between a human and an octopus,
Dominic says we also have some special qualities in common. I'd say overall, one of the prevailing similarities that I noticed in my work is curiosity and exploration. It is interesting to see something so distant from us
Dominic's background gave him a unique perspective.
Astrobiology is the study of how life originated and evolved throughout the universe and the effect that the different environments beyond Earth would have on life forms. So while octopuses may not be actual aliens themselves, he says we can look to them to teach us about the alien intelligence that may be out there.
Enter the octopus. Perhaps the closest thing on Earth to an alien without actually being an alien. Put it this way. When you think of other highly intelligent animals, many of them are mammals like chimpanzees.
who last shared a common ancestor with us humans about six or seven million years ago. It's been about 95 million years since primates and dolphins shared an ancestor. The smartest birds, like parrots and crows, haven't shared a common ancestor with us for about 310 to 320 million years. When it comes to the octopus...
It's been about 500 million years since these invertebrates branched off from us and the evolutionary tree, and our common ancestor was an extremely simple organism. It was probably a worm. It was probably small. It was probably simple. Probably no more than like a ganglion for a brain, right? Like a cluster of a few thousand, maybe a few tens of thousands of neurons. So you can imagine from that simple ancestor with a simple brain and a simple set of behaviors...
The environments that shaped our separate evolution were also vastly different. Under the water versus on land. Taken all together, the octopus is a good model for how intelligence might evolve in another part of the universe.
They have relatively large brains for their body size and about as many neurons as a dog. But octopus neurons are uniquely distributed throughout its body.
they have more in their arms than they do in their brain. They do have a sort of central hub behind their eyes like humans, but the arms are capable of carrying out tasks independently of that central hub. Let's say the octopus realizes it's time to eat. It might send a general command from its brain out to its arms, which are lined with suckers. Each one of these suckers has a cluster of neurons that
making them far more sensitive than the human fingertip. In fact, suckers can feel, taste, and smell all at once. So the arms are able to coordinate and carry out that command without having to constantly report back and forth to the brain. One reason for this is that octopus arms, unlike ours...
are boneless. The brain gets very limited information about the state of the arms. This is a factor in the distributed nature of the nervous system. It's also a factor in how the arms are really infinitely flexible, right? They can bend anywhere down their length in any direction. And so the amount of information necessary to coordinate all the possible configurations of the arms is something that the brain is really not capable of.
And so a lot of that information is going to be locally coordinated. The brain is going to be limited in its ability to send out a very specific set of commands. It's going to be limited in the amount of detail it's going to be able to send to the arms to say, bend a certain way or configure a certain way. So what will happen is that it will send out a much more global general command to the arms. And then that behavior is then kind of elaborated or it's specified using the local feedback within the arm, local mechanical feedback, chemical feedback. And most of that information is never going to make it to the brain at all.
Studying the octopus can also tell us what qualities we might expect to have in common with an alien species, like curiosity. To see that in something so distantly related to us really solidified the idea that to be in
intelligence means that you're going to have some amount of curiosity. That's maybe not saying a lot, but I do think that it's important as we're looking for intelligent life in the universe. It depends on what we're looking for, but if we're going to end up finding a technological species,
They had to get to that point somehow. And between finding a rock and using the rock as a tool, there has to be an amount of curiosity there to go from what is this object to what can we use this object for? There's a level of curiosity that's needed to take the inanimate world and make it into something that's useful for us, to make something into tools, to make something into technology. So that's, I feel like, just like a very basic prerequisite to being a technological species.
Dominic studied octopus behavior in a lab on San Juan Island in northwestern Washington state, where
where he and his team typically had anywhere from four to a dozen subjects at once. Most were smaller Pacific red octopuses, but he also worked with the giant Pacific octopus, which, when fully grown, can have up to 200 suckers on each arm. Dominic created a 3D printed box and trained the animals to associate it with the world's greatest motivation—
After a while, I would replace the interior of that box with a challenge of sorts, a task, a search problem, a manipulation problem. And then I would just film the inside of that box to see how the arm would then navigate the task to find the food or to explore or to manipulate an object or something like that. After testing was complete, the animals would be returned home.
When we asked Dominic some of his favorite things about the octopus, he noted our shared curiosity. And he also had this to say. I think overall, kind of feeling like I'm studying aliens. Now, they're not aliens. They're mollusks.
They shared an ancestor with us on Earth. But they do feel like aliens, right? They are very weird. You see in their movement this sort of local feedback with the environment means that their behavior seems a lot more mysterious than the behavior that you would see with vertebrates, for instance. And so just kind of feeling how distant they are from us, like feeling and seeing it, and just sort of having this intuition of this is something very, very, very different from us, never went away.
Since the controversial paper came out in 2018, asking whether the Cambrian explosion had terrestrial or cosmic influences, more research has been published to support the mainstream theory.
that this surge in evolution was probably caused by rising oxygen levels in our atmosphere and oceans, not by alien organisms. But there's something tempting about the theory of panspermia. As Eric Dorfman points out, it would mean that we're more connected with the cosmos than we already know. Maybe it makes our place in the universe feel a little less lonely.
And even if we don't make contact with alien intelligence during our lifetime, we can come pretty close by looking at the octopus.
Thank you for watching Conspiracy Theories. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram, at The Conspiracy Pod. If you're watching on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. We want to thank our guest, Dominic Civitilli, for sharing his time and expertise with us today. He's now taking what he's learned from the octopus and applying it to the field of soft robotics. Until next time, remember...
The truth isn't always the best story, and the official story isn't always the truth. This episode was written and researched by Mickey Taylor, edited by Lauren Silverman, fact-checked by Lori Siegel, engineered by Sam Emezcua, and video edited and sound designed by Ryan Contra. I'm your host,