Perhaps we should sprinkle low-level MDMA in the world's drinking-water system…
109
I’m not sure if I can ever eat an octopus salad again.
49
To the critics...I dare you to turn down that lifesaving treatment/drug for your child that was first discovered with the help of an animal
42
Cheers for the octopuses - why should rats have all the fun!
22
I am shocked by the comments I read here.... People confusing animal cruelty with harmless scientific experiment...
36
we have many people who have tried or are willing to try ecstacy for experimentation and can better report on its effects. that said, i do like to eat octopus, yum.
2
I cringe with shame when I see articles that describe our (homo sapiens) continuing experiments on sentient beings that have no choice in the matter. And I am equally sure that if someone, very ill and beloved to me, were to benefit from a cure based on such experiments, I would put aside my protest. This is one of the great ethical dilemmas of contemporary medicine.
48
The problem with the study is that it can't be extrapolated to humans. "Bathed" in ecstasy doesn't entail any regulation of dosing levels, thus its impossible to know what the octopi blood levels were. And, since the human nervous system is so very different from octopi, its impossible to relate the octopi response to human response, and at what dose. 100,000s of ridiculous research projects are inflicted on animals that researchers can get grant money.
17
Here is yet another article in the long tradition of medical science abusing sentient creatures and the media picking up on it as an amusing "human interest" story. The real wonder of experimental biologists is the determination and inventiveness with which they surpass circuses in the cruelty and domination department.
23
No comment. A question for JoAnna Klein. Does the same chemical reaction, in which MDMA fits into a protein and causes a flood of serotonin
between cells also happen if the drug is given to microorganisms and do they cluster or show any social behavior when and if this happens. I ask because most of the body's chemistry is already present in microbes and the social (congregating) behavior may
precede the emotions felt in higher organisms. Can the writers comment?
13
Relax people. Don’t you find this experiment hilarious? The title could be from the Onion. There are much worse ways to treat animals (neutering your dog, anyone?) than giving them psychedelic drugs.
34
Neutering a dog or cat is not cruelty. Talk to a veterinarian and he/she will tell you why.
22
Oh great....now science is drugging octopi to see how they react. For what purpose? Leave these creatures alone!!!!!!
31
I will not read this article. I do not support cruelty to animals. Shame on the NY Times for promoting animal cruelty.
21
Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way; PERIOD
28
MDMA is being used with success to help terminally ill people in this country and also people with PTSD in Australia. I think that these are wonderful uses of the drug. Wouldn’t you like to be helped in this way if you had a terminal illness ?
58
Indeed, octopuses are very smart. That's why it is a hideous idea to feed them the drugs that our species take to make us happy and high. Octopuses don't need to get high because they are smart and resourceful and probably know intuitively that drugs are not good for them. But humans, not the case.
I hope we didn't spend any taxpayer dollars on this study. What a waste of money and time. We are a species doomed to extinction.
23
This is completely insane. There are several infamous episodes in the history of “science” where animals were administered psychedelics and in each of them we look back with shame.
Hey researchers, here’s an idea: use human subjects or yourselves. What you are doing is ugly and exploitative. If you are so interested in molly - take some yourselves and hug it out, but for fudge sake leave the cephalopods out of this.
Your disrespect for other living things is astounding.
68
Not in any way to disparage theses researchers, there is an interesting PETA campaign to “Keep disturbed individuals from using universities as safe havens [for animal abuse] .”
The Department of Health and Human Servises has been asked to “require a psychiatric evaluation of anyone who is applying for federal funding to conduct experiments on animals.”
This after an investigation of over ten researchers that have been charged and/or committed violent crimes against people.”
More information is available at PETA.org “Are some animal experimenters psychopaths.?”
32
Well let's hope for god's sake they NEVER legalize anything so horrifically dang Dangerous to our current and perpetual states of genocide / war.
Besides, we make A LOT of money funding the human misery dept.
24
@Willy P
Thanks -- IF ONLY we could slip a little into the water supply at the White House and Capitol? Just to give the rest of us a little peace...
28
Leave the poor creatures alone.
55
As a fellow denizen of the ocean, I worry about this.
20
John Lennon had his moment of psychedelic celebrity via Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I think this is just Ringo Starr promoting his own last hurrah: Octopus’s Garden tour, this time in full technicolor.
11
I want to see the movie. Did they play techno?
11
I fervently hope that the realization that octopi respond to the world in ways similar to us does not mean that they will be subjected to the kinds of horrifying experiments we visit upon many other animals. These experiments reveal much more about our species (and it's potential for depravity) than they reveal about our nonhuman relatives.
51
I guess we know what "normal" is for an octopus? But I hear they can be unpredictable and of course they're extremely smart.
3
Potential treatments for a range of mental health issues, hiding in plain sight at your local downtown dance club.
10
What a huge disrespect for animals to give them drugs like ecstasy to see what will happen.
74
Don’t eat them!
36
How is this helpful to humans? Did we really fund research so scientists could give drugs to octopuses? Waste of money.
25
@Ella
As someone who has seratonin-based mental health issues, I'm happy to have my tax dollars going to any sort of scientific research that will give us a better understanding of how the brain works.
77
I would like to see this article explain what the researchers considers the ethical justification for this experiment.
82
“And although preliminary, the authors think octopuses present a promising model for studying MDMA’s effects on the human brain, treating PTSD and better understanding how the brain evolved to conjure social behaviors.”
Sounds useful to me
36
@Michael Wells: better understanding the brain, which is one of the biggest remaining mysteries of modern physiology.
24
While interesting, this is not a surprise. "The Soul of an Octopus" not only describes people receiving hugs from an octopus, the book beautifully explores these wonderful creatures' personalities. It would be a shame to turn them into lab animals.
48
@Elizabeth
We are ALL undergoing experimental exposures to a multitude of substances; a few of us live in labs.
In the outside world there are no constraints on what we all ( al animals, plants, living things) exposed to.
There are no parts of the ocean which escape the effects of pollution. There are no areas on land which completely escape the effects of our human lifestyles.
The octopuses in the lab just might have a chance at a much longer life than his counterparts. Maybe a few of them enjoy it.
17
@Elizabeth It is wrong to turn any animal into a test subject. It shows a lack of research creativity, especially with computers of today.
17