There is a danger of anthropomorphizing because we can't know what an octopus is thinking. We don't know that and this study doesn't prove the octopuses are dreaming. I think by raising the question, even if we can't answer it, it makes us think about these animals in perhaps a different way. And maybe the biggest misconception about them is that they're very different from us.
Madeleine Finlay speaks to science correspondent Nicola Davis about why octopuses are more similar to us humans than we might believe. She also hears from Prof David Scheel about our increasing understanding of the sophistication of these cephalopods, and how that should influence our treatment of them. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod