Feb. 8, 2026

The Octopus that Plays Piano

Show Notes
Transcript

A Swedish musician, Mattias, teaches an octopus named Taco to play piano using a specially designed keyboard and a crab reward system. Claire, diagnosed with terminal cancer, receives hundreds of Christmas cards and gifts from strangers after a Facebook post. Scientists in Chile develop a method to harvest water from fog for dry cities. California wildlife officials mistakenly catch the wrong bear while trying to remove one living under a man's house. A diplomat's son, Demetrius, returns a library book checked out in 1989, completing its journey around the world.

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Caalaroka Shark Media. A Swedish musician has spent six months

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teaching an octopus how to play piano. I am Johnny

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Mack with five good news stories. Matthias Still the Washington

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Post that he bought Taco the octopus from a Portuguese fishery.

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He says it took time to earn Taco's trust, and

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longer still until he could convince the octopus into using

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the keyboard he designed with levers for the octopus to

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pull with his tentacles. He said Taco started a plateau,

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only playing one or two notes at a time, but

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a breakthrough came when Matthias installed a crab elevator in

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the tank. The device would lower a crab, which, as

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you know, is Taco's favorite treat, a small amount of

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tube for every note the octopus played, Matthias started accompanying

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Taco on the guitar. Mattia says it was probably the

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worst thing I've ever done, and maybe the coolest thing,

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but also the worst ever. I can't believe I sit

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here and play with an octopus. Marine scientists Jenny said

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the octopus is not perceiving rhythm. It's not perceiving tempo.

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It wants to do the steps it has to do

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to get the crab bittersweet one here. Claire was diagnosed

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in twenty twenty two facing terminal battle cancer. She had

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posted on Facebook asking anyone writing Christmas cards this year

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to pop one in the mail for her as well.

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Hundreds of cards arrived, many containing gifts such as movie tickets, chocolates,

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vouchers for camping holiday. Her post was shared more than

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ten thousand times, with common shifting from friends and family

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to people sh'd never met, many in beginning with phrases

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like even though I don't know you. One of the

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offerings came from the Cambrian Flying Club. They offered her

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a free thirty minute flight. Scientists are getting it done.

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They say harvesting fog could bring drinking water to some

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of the driest cities in the world. Research in Chili

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have figured out that they can capture fog water. What

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they do is fine mesh is suspended between sets of polls,

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allowing clouds to flow through and droplets to form. Water

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can then be stored in the tanks. They're working on

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this with one particular desert city. Those citizens currently have

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to rely on water delivered by truck. In California, wildlife

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officials accidentally captured the wrong bear. They were trying to

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capture the bear that's been living under a man's home.

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Ken discovered in November that a bear was living under

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his house. He called the California Department of Fish and

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Wildlife for some help. Those guys said, yeah, bears often

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looked for secured, sheltered places, especially during the winter, so

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the wildlife biologists placed a metal trap on the property.

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They baited it with caramel and cherry. Sense that would

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have worked on me, by the way, And the officials

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were like, hey, we caught the bear. Okay, everybody's good there. However,

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they realized, oh, this is a different bear that happened

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to walk by and was like, hey, caramel and cherry,

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I'm in. Meanwhile, the original bear still underneath the house.

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The captured bear was removed to a more appropriate habitat

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The bear still under the house has been identified as

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Yellow twenty one twenty, and so far Yellow twenty one

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to twenty has avoided removal. Ken, who lives in the

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house that he's tried to encourage Yellow twenty one twenty

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to move by playing loud noises, including recordings of barking dogs,

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but the bears like I'm good. If you like the program,

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that out, much appreciated. Good news if you've been waiting

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to take out the book Harry the Dirty Dog. It

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was checked out on November sixth, nineteen eighty nine by

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diplomats living in Washington, d C. The diplomat's son Demetrius,

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has returned it. He explained, the diplomats are now retired

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in Greece, and I found this book on the shelves.

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It's traveled the world and was well taken care of

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as you could see, and now could find its way home.

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It is now back in the Fairfax County Library System.

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They posted on social they get to Demetrius parents for

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taking such good care of our book, and to Demetrius

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for helping the book find its way back to our shelves.

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I kind of want to like take it out and

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not return it, you know, But I'm a rascal. And

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those are your five good news stories for the day.

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Like my son can return it like fifty years and

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then somebody else hosting this podcast can tell that story.

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All Right, you have an awesome day.