Biology
Nervous System of Octopuses: Central Brain and Distributed Arms
Quick fact
An octopus has about 500 million neurons, but nearly two-thirds of them (around 350 million) are distributed through its eight arms, not in its central brain.
Why this is interesting
What if your arms had a mind of their own? Octopus arms do something remarkably similar—they can taste, touch, and move without waiting for instructions from the brain. How does a creature coordinate a body that seems to have a will of its own?