The problem with the Drake Equation?

Cephalopods are amazing creatures - the question is could an octopus govern a planet? When you observe their problem solving ability, it makes you wonder. Humans are arrogant. We think we're the only organism that has been "gifted" with extraordinary traits. I think we should be prepared to be outdone some day - it's inevitable.
And BTW, this IS evolution in the works - working 24/7.

Speaking of Science
Octopuses and squids can rewrite their RNA. Is that why they’re so smart?

In the new report, scientists measured rates of RNA recoding in several cephalopod species. They found that squids, cuttlefish and octopuses — the smartest kinds of cephalopods — frequently edit RNA, in about one out of every two transcribed genes. What's more, RNA editing most often targeted cephalopod genes related to nervous system functions. “It was making tweaks that really make a neuron a neuron,” Rosenthal said. There was one exception. A type of cephalopod called a nautilus lacked such high rates of RNA recoding. Nautiluses, though, aren't known for their intelligence. Could “massive RNA-level recoding,” as the scientists wrote in their new study, be related to the animals' smarts?

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