16 July 2010

Online sports betting enthusiasts have received in recent days some sad news. The polyp Paul, the hero of diving World Cup 2010, will be retired. All that online gamblers are based on its predictions to make their bets, will be another source of inspiration.

Paul is a live octopus and common public aquarium in the town of Oberhausen, Germany. It is unclear how Paul has become a teller of the results of the German national football matches, but it is a fait accompli in 2008 had already guessed that two thirds of the match results of the German team in European football championships. The World Cup in South Africa are, however, to bring him to stardom. During the tournament he had guessed the results of other matches, including the final, although the German national team did not attend the game.

From the scientific point of view nobody is really able to explain these capabilities by Paul polyp. Although scholars from many universities have long focused on the issue, nobody is able to explain the mechanism of the animal of choice (perhaps there is no mechanism is simple and probability?).

The direction of the aquarium decided to put Paul retired from his activities after protests by animal guess who found the inappropriate use of the polyp, and the protests of fans from Argentina, German and Spanish. The animal, which already has over two years, advanced age for a polyp, can finally rest.