Meg Mindlin

@invertebabe.bsky.social

3120 Followers 300 Following

🐙 | Everything you don’t know about Cephalopods 🧬 | Molecular Biologist & Artist 💌 | mmindlinart@gmail.com ⬇️ | Join my sticker club! bio.site/invertebabe

NEED TO KNOW MORE?
Follow me and learn molecular biology through the lens of the internet's favorite invertebrate.
I'm an artist who knows what it's like to know nothing, but my curiosity drove me to research.
Now I study RNA editing in cephalopods and use my background to teach the public.
@invertebabe
DYE WOF

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Talk to your neighbors about what you just learned about octopus ribosomes and the importance of basic science.
Contact your representatives to express your support for federal scientific funding.
Vote in local and state elections for politicians that care about science.
Get involved in your local school board to support scientific learning in classrooms.
Follow science communicators to keep learning new things about our world.
Remain hopeful and filled with joy.
@invertebabe

BASIC SCIENCE
FUELS INNOVATION
Cephalopods are fantastic examples of the importance of basic science, research pursued for improving our knowledge base, not to solve a problem or create a patent.
Without basic science, and the funding to pursue it, we never would have gained the innovative advancements we have.
Nor would we have discovered important information about our own bodies, like how our brain cells communicate or how memories are made and stored (thank cephalopods for those).
Hodgkin & Huxley, 1939
Young, 1964
Buckner, 2007
@invertebabe

WONKY PROTEINS
CAUSE REAL PROBLEMS
Your ribosomes are tiny factories inside your cells that build proteins from your genetic code.
Like people, sometimes ribosomes make mistakes, which result in wonky proteins.
Wonky proteins tend to stick to each other, forming clumps that can cause havoc inside your body.
Havoc such as cell dysfunction, tissue damage, or neurodegenerative diseases.
@invertebabe

OCTOPUSES
JUST PAVED
A NEW PATH FOR
BIOMEDICAL INNOVATIONS
Featuring my illustration of the lesser pacific striped octopus
@invertebabe

SOURCE
Evolution of a core ribosomal innovation in octopus. Rishav Mitra et al. 2026. Current Biology.
Thank you to Dr. Rishav Mitra for their golden seal of approval on this post ‹ 3
Check out the Bellono Lab at
Harvard for more incredible science!
@invertebabe

NEED TO KNOW MORE?
Follow me and learn molecular biology through the lens of the internet's favorite invertebrate.
I'm an artist who knows what it's like to know nothing, but my curiosity drove me to research.
Now I study RNA
editing in cephalopods and use my background to teach the public.
@invertebabe

BUT WHY???
Octopuses (and squid and cuttlefish) love to edit the regions of their RNA that code for proteins, way more than any other animal we know of.
In all other animals, this type of RNA editing leads to problems, like wonky proteins.
Turns out the octopus ribosomes are better at reading edited RNA, leading to less wonky proteins that clump together and cause havoc.
Kinda perfect, right?
@invertebabe

OCTOPUS RIBOSOMES?
CERTIFIED FREAKY
Within every organism's body, including you, is a genetic blueprint that describes all of your proteins.
Proteins make your body functional.
Like the collagen in your skin or the insulin that regulates your blood sugar, all proteins.
Ribosomes are responsible for reading that blueprint and building your proteins.
New research has just discovered that the ribosomes within octopuses are WEIRD.
@invertebabe

OCTOPUSES JUST GOT WEIRDER
Featuring an illustration of a two spot octopus with a blue and purple ribosome behind it

THE ONLY
INDEPENDENCE DAY
I KNOW IS THE
1996 FILM DIRECTED BY ROLAN EMMERICH THAT STARS WILL SMITH, BILL PULLMAN, AND JEFF GOLDBLUM with the film cover of a spaceship destroying a white building

Photo of a man and woman sitting on an old tree that is sitting on a shoreline. They look adorable and the photo is very well framed

HI, I'M MEG!
I'm an artist who became a
molecular biologist.
I use my art to make complex science more engaging for the general
public.
Because anyone can understand anything
with the right tools, support, and curiosity.
@invertebabe

AI ART IS DEVOID OF EMPATHY
Real people's hard work and skills that took them a lifetime to obtain is stolen to create generative Al systems. No artist ever gave permission for this, nor are they compensated.
Why continue to use a system that took advantage of millions of people?
In a time where science needs to build back trust, a lack of reflection on the tools we use and how they were made will not get us there.
To use Al art is to show others you lack empathy and the ability to self-reflect.
@invertebabe

MAKING GRAPHICS IS EASIER THAN IT'S EVER BEEN
Canva has an enormous library of clip art and graphics to choose from that artists made and were compensated for.
You don't need artistic skills to utilize these tools. A graphic compiled of clip art that doesnt match (if you truly lack an artistic eye) is leagues better than Al art.
Even when science communicators are mostly unpaid and doing this in their free time, creating a Canva graphic is still accessible and fast.
@invertebabe

SCIENTISTS
COMMUNICATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA IS ALL IT TAKES TO REACH PEOPLE WHO MAY NEVER INTERACT WITH A SCIENTIST IN PERSON.
And you don't need Al to do so
@invertebabe

WHY THIS ARGUMENT IS FULL OF CRAP
"Al graphics allow me to communicate science to people who may never get to interact with a scientist"
A CONVERSATION
SCIENCE
COMMUNICATORS
NEED TO HAVE
@invertebabe

HI, I'M MEG!
I STUDY RNA EDITING IN
CEPHALOPODS
I'm an artist who
changed career paths to pursue this line of
study.
Now I use my background to teach others
about molecular biology and cephalopods.
@invertebabe

Illustration of a ruby octopus that says “when times are tough, i dont need to be thriving, i just need to be surviving”

REALITY CHECK
Some cephalopod species will likely go extinct and eventually populations will drop as climate change trudges on.
But they have some tricks up their sleeves.
A-to-I RNA editing allows them to acclimate to environmental conditions on the go.
And at the end of the day, their competition just can't keep up, leaving more resources for those that can. That could be enough to come out on top. Especially when we see similarities to the past.
@invertebabe

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
The survivors of the Triassic extinction, the largest mass extinction in our Earth's history, were the cephalopods.
They traverse to the deep and speed-run evolution with their short lifespans and high reproductive rates. Then travel back to the shallows to take over the environment less fortunate animals left behind.
The negative effects we can quantify don't seem to outweigh the
Negative effects from climate change
advantages.
Bottom right corner features a scale where Less competition, More resources, outweighs negative effects from climate change

AN OCTOPUS HANDLES STRESS
BETTER THAN YOU
When water absorbs lots of atmospheric
CO2, the pH of the water decreases, making it more acidic. This makes it harder for animals to get oxygen, which is reflected in their energy use. Higher the energy use, the more stressed you are.
In the Onthank Lab at Walla Walla
University, ruby octopuses got their oxygen consumption rates measured in conditions that mirror what we expect to see with climate change.
What we see over long-periods of time is that octopuses are good at getting over stress quickly.
@invertebabe

THE BAD NEWS
As a scientist, we're always quick to point out harsh realities of complex questions.
Octopuses (and squid and cuttlefish) are severely impacted by warmer and more acidic waters. Development, reproduction, survivability, are all negatively affected.
It's easy to see nothing but doom and gloom.
But my study species, Octopus rubescens, gives me a little hope.
@invertebabe

WILL OCTOPUSES BE THE CHAMPIONS
OF CLIMATE CHANGE?
@invertebabe

Illustration of a ruby octopus, octopus rubescens in the corner

HI, I'M MEG!
I STUDY RNA EDITING IN
CEPHALOPODS
I'm an artist who
changed career paths to pursue this line of
study.
Now I use my background to teach others
about
molecular biology and cephalopods.
@invertebabe

OCTOPUSES CAN'T MAKE AS MANY DNA MUTATIONS, WHICH STUNTS THEIR EVOLUTION.
ADAR requires double stranded RNA (dRNA). In order for a mutation to occur, that dRNA needs to be broken.
That is not happening. The dsRNA is preserved and DNA mutations are sparse between individuals and between species.
This has a substantial global effect on genome evolution for octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.
At the bottom is an illustration of an octopus and a squid and the octopus says “are we screwed” and the squid says “yolo”

WHY IS SO MUCH RNA EDITING OCCURING IN OCTOPUSES?
Evolution has decided it's advantageous!
Making functional changes to your proteins that can occur in 24 hours, stick around, and are responsive to environmental changes is quite a flex.
Featuring a illustration of a octopus, that highlights their head, where their brain is and where most editing happens. Which the DNA in there is gonna be edited by Adar Which leads to slightly modified protein function

THE SAME WAY HUMANS CAN!
MEET THE ENZYME ADAR:
Formally known as Adenosine Deaminase
Acting on RNA.
Humans and all other organisms have this enzyme that facilitates RNA editing.
Cause it turns out, everyone edits their RNA! In humans, this editing is really important for preventing unwanted immune responses.
So why are octopuses so special?
@invertebabe

HOW CAN AN
OCTOPUS
EDIT THEIR
RNA?
@invertebabe
Featuring an illustration of a giant pacific octopus swapping an A nucleotide for an I nucleotide

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Meet the deepest living cephalopod. Of over 800 cephalopod species, only the dumbo octopus has been found at depths close to 7,000m

Flapjacks
Family: Opisthoteuthidae
Genus: Opisthoteuthis
Defining features: Red/orange coloration, small fins, and white dots along their face.
These octopuses resemble golden deep sea pancakes when they flatten themselves against the sea floor. They're rarely seen swimming, preferring to be lazy little cutie patooties.
» »
@invertebabe

Both are Cirrate octopuses, having a web of skin between their arms,
and two fins on top of their head.
@invertebabe

My illustrations in the center with an arrow pointing at an orange octopus that reads: This is a Flapjack
And an arrow pointing at a purple octopus that reads: This is a Dumbo
@invertebabe

Two of my illustrations of a flapjack and dumbo octopus. Text reads: Flapjack
or
Dumbo?
@invertebabe

Love this? You'd also like my
Sticker of the Month Club
A new sticker with fun facts, every month, straight to your door.
$5/month
LINK IN BIO
@invertebabe

Flapjacks
Family: Grimpoteuthidae
Genus: Opisthoteuthidae
Defining features: Red/orange coloration, small fins, and white dots along their face.
These octopuses resemble golden deep sea pancakes. They're rarely seen swimming, preferring to spend their time on the cozy ocean floor.
@invertebabe

Graphic with my illustrations of a flapjack and a dumbo. Text reads: both are cirrate octopuses, having a web of skin between their arms and two fins on top of their head

Graphic with my two illustrations in the middle. An arrow pointing to the orange octopus with text that reads “this is a flapjack” and an arrow pointing to the purple octopus that reads “this is a dumbo”

A photo of 3 baby blue baseball hats with black silhouettes of fish on them. A large mouth bass, red drum, and hardhead catfish

Photo of 3 prints of scientific posters that represent a family, with each fish being one person. They read as “fishes of family kurilidae”, “fishes of family mindlinidae”

Source: Jamieson, A.J., Vecchione, M. First in situ observation of Cephalopoda at hadal depths (Octopoda: Opisthoteuthidae: Grimpoteuthis sp.). Mar Biol 167, 82 (2020).

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With a fact sheet to learn all about your new favorite animal.

Yes, they hop.
The scientists who published this finding noted what they presumed to be foraging behavior.

Where the octopus would briefly hop along the seafloor. Something sorta like this: a sketch of a octopus hopping along the sea floor. Though technically they would spread their arms out along the sea floor rather than ballooning up.

An animal that can withstand over 8,000 lbs of pressure and still be this whimsical is truly iconic behavior.

The deepest living cephalopod! In 1949, a dumbo octopus was retrieved from a trawl that sampled to 8,100 m.

However, there was doubt around which depth the octopus was captured at. Since before this, dumbo octopuses were not thought to have lived in Hadal depths.

That is until 2020, when one was seen on camera at 6,957 m. Making them the deepest living Cephalopod out of 800 species.

This increased the potential benthic habitat available to them from 75 to 99% of the global sea floor.

Illustration of a dumbo octopus on top a collage of white and off white paper. Words on top read "Meet the dumbo octopus"

An illustration of two of the seagulls from finding nemo with teeny weenie red beanies on. They sit on top of old wodden dock poles, screaming “mine mine mine”. Words written in cursive read “in my mind, youre always”’

Are you part of the 1.16 billion who suffer from this neurological disease? Leave a comment below.

But please, keep your advice to yourself.

It’s not wanted, unless it’s specifically asked for. <3

Migraine is a neurological disease that is strongly rooted in genetics. Meaning more often than not, the reason behind your migraines is because of he genes you inherited from your mother and father.

Portraits in pain: seeing myself through migraines. Surrounded by polaroids of migraine drawings I have made over my lifetime

Illustration of a bleeding heart dove on a red background.

A photo of me in a fake deep sea submersible at the witte museum for their deep sea exhibit

Screenshot of a google search “ang bobtails reproductive organ” followed by an AI result that is like if you slam your hands onto a keyboard and hit submit. Pure garbage, entirely made up words.

Photo of me sitting on a desk with my hands under my chin, princess pose. Above me is the opening slide of my masters thesis presentation. It reads “tickled zinc: characterizing a to i rna edits in nervous tissue of octopus rubescens in response to ocean acidification”

Screenshot of the ipad app procreated showcasing an illustration of a hawaiian bobtail squid

A joro spider hanging upside down on a web. Can see their red under abdomen as well as their fangs. Background is a lime green with light shining in from the upper lefthand corner