by Rafe Sagarin
Salmon
migration journey
sense of smell/VNO
Sapolsky, Robert
Schistosomiasis
Sculpins
Sea of Cortez/ecosystem
condition/threats (2004)
emerging threats (1940)
jumbo Humboldt squid
Ricketts/Steinbeck journey
shrimp trawlers damage
Sea urchins
Security
adaptability importance (overview)
associative learning and
biological approach (overview)
border wall (U.S.-Mexico) problems
decentralized vs. centralized control
direct use of nature examples
disaster post-mortems and
distributed sensors and
following 9/11 attacks
ineffective examples
levels for reform
multiple sensors and
nature of problems
paradigm shifts and
sense of fear and
specialization and
strategies overview
varied security needs
See also Nature’s security services; specific components; specific examples
Security/eliminating irrational behavior
adolescents and
coexistence and
future vs. past
“symbolic tradeoffs” and
understanding roots of behavior
See also Evolution of irrational behavior
Security state (U.S.)
creation
description
innovation and
secrecy functions
Self/nonself identification
Shintoism
Signaling
bin Laden’s life-in-hiding videos and
dishonest signals
facial structure/expressions
false alarms and
habituation and
honest signals
imperfect signaling
importance
interspecies signaling
marmots
overestimating/underestimating threat and
prey adjusting to predator
prey signaling predator
speed and
uncertainty and
within species
Smith, Adam
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Smoke detectors
Social Darwinism
Social insects
information and
kin selection
Social justice and decentralized organizations
Solis, Hilda
Sosis, Richard
Spider and ant security example
Squid
Stability and human-created ecosystems
Biosphere 2 and
sealed glass “ecospheres” and
Stability and nature
deep-sea brachiopods
human impact and
lack of examples
Stability-inducing conflicts
Cold War’s “mutually assured destruction,”
fiddler crabs
“Stanley” development
Starfish
Starfish and the Spider, The (Brafman and Beckstrom)
Steinbeck, John
biological applications
nature observation and
Ricketts and
Sea of Cortez/journey
Stress
Suicide bombers
salmon behavior comparison
signaling group fidelity
See also specific events; Terrorism
Sun Tzu
Symbiogenesis
Symbiosis
behavioral changes with
blue-ringed octopuses/bacteria
as common in nature
description
emergent properties and
examples
facultative symbiosis
IEDs decrease and
mutualism
mutually assured support
obligate symbiosis
relationship diversity
transformations by
types
See also Cooperation
“Symbolic tradeoffs,”
T
Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge collapse
Tarahumara Indians
Taylor, Terence
background
symbiosis
Terrorism
attacks on London (2005)
organization of cells
publicity and
recruitment on Internet
summary
“war on terror” effects
See also specific conflicts; specific events; specific groups/individuals
“Terrorism futures market,”
Theory of Moral Sentiments, The (Smith)
3M’s Pollution Prevention Pays program
Through the Looking Glass (Carroll)
Tic-tac-toe
Tide pools
community changes in
high tide/low tide threats
life/diversity description
Sagarin and
threats to species
See also specific organisms
Tipping Point, The (Gladwell)
Tool-making
humans and
nonhuman animal examples
Total Information Awareness program
Towns, Edolphus
Toyota vehicles
Tragedy of the Commons
TSA (Transportation Security Administration)
Tsunami
alarm systems
Japan (2011)
Tsunami, Asia (2004)
animal behavior before
consequences
mangrove forests and
tsunami warning systems
U
Uncertainty
human brains and
immune system and
natural variation and
signaling and
stress and
Uncertainty manipulation
birds flocking
Homeland Security and
information and
marmots and
misuse with security screening
octopuses and
periodical cicadas and
predators using camouflage
See also Signaling
United Nations
USA Today
V
Vermeij, Geerat
background/description
blindness/adaptation
decentralized organization in nature
economy of society/economy of nature and
Evolution and Escalation
evolutionary arms race and
marine organisms and
as observer of nature
“unimaginative redundancy,”
Vespignani, Alessandro
Villarreal, Luis
background
evolution of human belief systems
viruses and
Viruses
addiction module and
bacteria and
chicken eggs and vaccines
effects overview
evolutionary advances and
moving from nonhuman animals to humans
RNA template and
See also specific diseases
Vomeronasal organ (VNO)
Voyage of the Beagle, The (Darwin)
W
Wall Street Journal
War Games (film)
Water issues
“100-year flood” concept and
climate change and
flood control
Hurricane Ike/”Ike Dike,”
impervious surfaces and
Los Angeles water mismanagement
rain distribution
sea-level rise
statistics on potable water access
Tucson, Arizona problems
See also Nature’s security
services/water; Wetlands
Wealth of Nations, The (Smith)
Wears, Robert
West Nile virus
Wetlands services
calculating value
as fish nursery
greenhouse gases and
“living shorelines,”
mangrove forests
restoring wetlands
storms/flooding protection
summary
as water filters
Why We Get Sick (Nesse and Williams)
WikiLeaks
Williams, George
Wilson, E.O.
Wilson, Thomas
background
IED adaptation
question to Rumsfeld
Wolfe, Nathan
Wolfe’s Global Viral Forecasting Initiative
World War II
barnacles fouling navy ships
British and German radar
imperfect signaling example
Japanese fisherman/Pacific coast of U.S.
Ricketts and
Scientific Intelligence Service
World Wildlife Fund challenge
Y
Yo-Yo Ma
Yom Kippur War (1973)
Copyright © 2012 by Rafe Sagarin
Illustrations by Rafe Sagarin
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sagarin, Rafe.
Learning from the octopus : how secrets from nature can help us
fight terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and disease / Rafe Sagarin.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-0-465-02981-5
1. Terrorism—Prevention. 2. Emergency management. 3. Ecology—
Study and teaching. 4. Evolution—Study and teaching. I. Title.
HV6431.S224 2012
363.34—dc23
2011048842
