Is this sea creature real or CGI?

It’s real. In fact, it’s a lovely example of the noble Grimpoteuthis — the crazy-deep-water-dwelling “Dumbo Octopus”, so named for its big floppy ears (or whatever the heck those things are). Collision Detection reader Paul Gemperle sent me a couple of links to some amazing photos of Grimpoteuthis, as well as a short French documentary of the thing in action.

The video is hallucinogenically strange in the way that only films of benthic-depth sea creatures can be: Gauzy see-through animals lazily turn themselves inside out, ultracreepy writhing masses of collective-life-form tentacles lunge for prey, and Dumbo octopuses impassively regard the camera lens with what appears to be an intelligence probably not much lower than a member of Congress. In one shot, a huge-ass lidded eye attached to some snouted celaphopod opened up to stare at me and I was like, man — this stuff looks like a Ridley Scott f/x masterpiece. Or a really awesome video game.

All of which made me think: Deep-sea life is so aggressively odd-looking that it’s indistiguishable from Hollywood CGI creations. Sure, that Dumbo octopus is real; but if it weren’t, how could you tell? Someone ought to harness this blurriness as a pedagogical technique. They could make a short documentary aimed at grade-school kids that mixes fake CGI sea animals with real ones, and challenges them to figure out which is which. It’d be a nice way to hammer home the central fun of marine biology, and of science in general: Why bother making things up when reality outweirds you every day?

(Thanks to Paul for this one!)


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I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.

Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!

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The “Milky Way Transit Authority” map

Should automobile software be open-sourced?

My Bookforum review of Jaron Lanier’s “You Are Not A Gadget”

Molecular secrets of the “iron-plated snail”

Garry Kasparov, cyborg

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January 31, 2010 » 07:29 PM
V. A. To me death seems to be an evil.
M. What, to those who are al­ready dead? or to those who must die?
A. To both.
M. It is a mis­ery, then, be­cause an evil?
A. Cer­tain­ly.
M. Then those who have al­ready died, and those who have still got to die, are both mis­er­able?
A. So it ap­pears to me.
M. Then all are mis­er­able?
A. Ev­ery one.

January 24, 2010 » 03:22 PM

One of the more interesting trends is family, which came in at number five. Specifically, discussion about family, moms, dads, daughters, etc. jumped during 2009. With Facebook users getting older, this isn’t a big surprise. However, the fact that the mention of “kids” jumped by a factor of five this year is rather dramatic. It’s tough to know what this means, though. (via Facebook Unveils Most-Mentioned Topics of 2009

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January 15, 2010 » 01:36 PM

BEYOND AWESOME. They are announcing a recall of the Plush Uterus “due to a potential choking hazard for children”. To apply for it, “Please send an email to the address below with the subject line, ‘UTERUS OPT OUT’”.

January 14, 2010 » 10:04 PM

“To order, please TYPE “YES” IN CHECKBOX BELOW TO AGREE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS PLUSH MUST BE KEPT AWAY FROM KIDS (it is a sex organ, after all). If it is not checked, WE WILL NOT SEND THE UTERUS.” (via @ibogost)

January 11, 2010 » 01:45 PM

I watched Space: 1999 back in the day, but I swear to god I do not remember this scene.

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