If you give an octopus a… molly
That’s right. In 2018, a group of researchers gave octopuses MDMA, popularly known as molly or ecstasy. Octopuses are typically asocial creatures, so the scientists wanted to see how a drug that affects serotonin levels (and induces extraversion in people) would impact the octopuses.
As it turned out, the normally solitary octopuses spent time with one another after sitting in an MDMA bath, even going as far as touching each other with their arms in an exploratory (as opposed to confrontational) way. Whether this says more about octopuses or the power of MDMA is perhaps for you to decide, but still! It’s cool that octopuses can play nice, sometimes.
