The scientists identified a novel family of sensors in the first layer of cells inside the suction cups that have adapted to react and detect molecules that don't dissolve well in water. In a new report, Harvard researchers got a glimpse into how the nervous system in the octopus' arms (which operate largely independently from its centralized brain) manage this feat. But very few have studied what is happening on a molecular level. In fact, scientists have wondered for decades how those arms, or more specifically the suction cups on them, do their work, prompting a number of experiments into the biomechanics.
