In June 2023, researchers announced that at least some species of octopus actually edit their RNA to deal with colder water temperatures. The team’s findings, which were published in Cell, posit that California two-spot octopuses—which cannot generate their own body heat—tweak their genetics such that they’re able to deal with temperature shifts in their environment.

In February 2023, researchers announced that they had managed to record brain activity in freely moving octopuses for the first time. The scientists implanted electrodes and a data logger into day octopuses (Octopus cyanea).

Brain activity patterns recorded in the research have not yet been tied to specific behaviors, but if the practice sticks, it may provide more information about the inner workings of the octopus, and specifically how their brain activity corresponds to their movements.

There are ethical questions here, as is the case whenever devices are inserted into animals that cannot express consent. But inserting devices into the animals for science is arguably better than frying and eating them (and persuasively so, in the opinion of this writer).