When they detect a predator, McAnulty says squids can squirt a “smoke bomb” of ink - called a pseudomorph - which creates an ink blob the same size and shape of their bodies to confuse the predator. When it comes to avoiding prey, squids are professionals. “What’s really cool about squid and cuttlefish and octopuses is that they are so advanced, but they’re very different from us,” McAnulty says, adding the first cephalopod emerged about 500 million years ago.įor example, she says squids can camouflage themselves and are able to “communicate with that color change” - despite the fact that, as far as scientists can tell, squids are colorblind. “I think I’m probably the biggest cheerleader for squid,” Sarah McAnulty, a squid biologist at the University of Connecticut and founder of the nonprofit Skype A Scientist, tells Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson.

The soft-bodied, ink-squirting cephalopods are incredibly smart - and in more ways than you might think. Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!įollow Adafruit on Instagram for top secret new products, behinds the scenes and more ĬircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.Scientists continue to be fascinated by squids.

Using readily available video chat tools, SKYPE a Scientist connects real scientists with classes around the world. Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there. Sarah McAnulty Our guest this week is Sarah McAnulty, squid biologist and founder of Skype a Scientist. Join 35,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more.

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