Redaktøren i seg selv

Den sjette morgenen laget Chiara kaffe. Hun satt ved tanken sammen med Polly.

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

Pasta hang opp ned. Kroppen hennes pulserte sakte. Armene drev rundt.

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

"Jeg vil fortelle deg en ting til," sa Chiara. "Det er det merkeligste jeg vet om blekkspruter."

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

DNA er dyrets langsiktige plan. RNA er arbeidskopien.

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

Hos de fleste dyr samsvarer RNA med DNA. Men hos blekkspruter gjør det ikke det. Cellen omskriver deler av RNA mens det lages. De fleste endringene skjer i nervesystemet.

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.

"Hvorfor?" sa Chiara. "Det lar blekkspruten endre nervesystemet sitt. Den kan justere hjernen sin etter vanntemperaturen eller maten."

"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."

Pasta drev rundt. Huden hennes nær øynene ble myk rosa og brun.

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

"Hver blekksprut er et litt annerledes dyr," sa Chiara. "Samme DNA. Men arbeidsmaskineriet bygges nytt, for det vannet og den maten."

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

Polly tenkte på sin egen hjerne. Den var hennes. Hun ville ikke at den skulle endre seg. Men hun likte å vite at dyr som Pasta fantes.

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.