MBL Scientists are Front and Center for "Cephalopod Week"

ScienceFriday celebrated its many-tentacled "Cephalopod Week" from June 10-16, and MBL octopus and squid experts were there to represent!

Kicking it off by appearing on the popular ScienceFriday radio show were MBL Hibbitt Fellow Carrie Albertin and Grass Fellow Z. Yan Wang. Based on her recent scientific publications, Albertin described the “the strange, scrambled genomes of squids and octopuses” and Wang delved into her studies on the dramatic death of female octopuses after laying their eggs. You can listen to the segment here.

Then, Bret Grasse, MBL’s manager of cephalopod operations, rounded up his team for a multi-dimensional appearance on “Cephalopod Movie Night” at WBUR’s Cityspace in Boston. Grasse sat on a panel of cephalopod experts onstage, while MBL’s Taylor Sakmar provided a 7-minute virtual tour of the MBL’s cephalopod species on the big screen. Miranda Vogt* and a team of interns were responsible for the safe transport of two octopuses from MBL to the event, where they thrilled the audience, and Vogt also fielded questions on what it’s like to be a cephalopod caretaker. All in all, said Grasse, “it was a resounding success!”

*Updated June 21, 2022: Miranda Vogt's last name was originally misspelled "Voigt"