The Editor of Itself

On the sixth morning, Chiara made coffee. She sat by the tank with Polly.

På den sjette morgen lavede Chiara kaffe. Hun sad ved tanken sammen med Polly.

Pasta was hanging upside down. Her body pulsed slowly. Her arms drifted.

Pasta hang med hovedet nedad. Hendes krop pulserede langsomt. Hendes arme svævede.

"I want to tell you one more thing," Chiara said. "It is the strangest thing I know about octopuses."

"Jeg vil fortælle dig en ting mere," sagde Chiara. "Det er det mærkeligste, jeg ved om blæksprutter."

DNA is the long-term plan of an animal. RNA is the working copy.

DNA er dyrets langsigtede plan. RNA er arbejdskopien.

In most animals, the RNA matches the DNA. But in octopuses, the RNA does not match. The cell rewrites parts of the RNA as it makes it. Most of the edits happen in the nervous system.

Hos de fleste dyr matcher RNA'et DNA'et. Men hos blæksprutter gør det ikke. Cellen omskriver dele af RNA'et, mens det bliver lavet. De fleste af ændringerne sker i nervesystemet.

"Why?" Chiara said. "It lets the octopus change its nervous system. It can tune its own brain to the water temperature or to its food."

"Hvorfor?" sagde Chiara. "Det lader blæksprutten ændre sit nervesystem. Den kan justere sin egen hjerne til vandets temperatur eller til sin mad."

Pasta drifted. Her skin near the eyes turned soft pink and brown.

Pasta svævede. Hendes hud nær øjnene blev blød lyserød og brun.

"Each octopus is a slightly different animal," Chiara said. "Same DNA. But the working machinery is built fresh, for that water and that food."

"Hver blæksprutte er et lidt anderledes dyr," sagde Chiara. "Samme DNA. Men det arbejdende maskineri bygges frisk, til det vand og den mad."

Polly thought about her own brain. It was hers. She did not want it to change. But she liked knowing that animals like Pasta existed.

Polly tænkte på sin egen hjerne. Den var hendes. Hun ønskede ikke, at den skulle ændre sig. Men hun kunne godt lide at vide, at dyr som Pasta fandtes.