Source: National Geographic

Apparently, research into octopus arme may point the way to new robot designs.

Earlier research funded by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) suggests that, to keep the arms from constantly tangling themselves up, each arm has an independent peripheral nervous system and neural circuitry (see related-story link below). This allows the brain to essentially give a command—”Arm Four, fetch that tasty crab crawling by”—and have the arm carry out the order without the brain thinking about it again.