She Blinded Me with Science! 8/23/14

She Geek Eris drops a knowledge egg on dat ass via her segment on local radio show The Week in Geek. Here are this week's topics:

Could You Camouflage like a Cephalopod One Day?

Forget maxing out your level in Obfuscate; when it comes to blending in, vampires ain't got nothin' on octopi! 

Mad hide and seek skillz.

Cephalopods (mollusks with arms attached to their heads like octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) are masters of camouflage because it is their main form of protection. Their bodies are covered in a layer of thousands of chromatophores, color-changing cells just below the skin. Each cell contains pigment and can be expanded or contracted to accentuate or subdue the visibility of their pigment depending on the desired effect. For instance, if the octopus needs to blend into a piece of red coral, the chromatophores containing red pigment would be expanded while the others contracted, essentially turning the octopus red. Some cephalopods also have a layer of reflective plates in their skin in addition to chromatophores which allow them to either appear iridescent or simply reflect the colors around them in order to blend in even more completely. Most importantly to this research, cephalopod skin also contains a layer of photosensitive cells. These cells are able to sense light and patterns without the use of the cephalopod's eyes or even its brain, which allow it to utilize its camouflage technique almost instantaneously.