"I was absolutely shocked that it had this effect," says Judit Pungor, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon who studies octopuses.
The idea to test the effect ecstasy would have on octopuses came from Gul Dolen who is a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University. "My lab has been studying MDMA for a long time, she says, "and we have worked out a lot of neural mechanisms that enable MDMA to have these really, really profound pro-social effects."
Researchers started with a high dose of the drug. "They really didn't like it. They looked like they were freaked out," says Dolen. "They were just taking these postures of super hypervigilance. They would sit in the corner of the tank and stare at everything."
For more on this story check out today's bonus segment with Len and Michael...
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