A parasite with the ability to change behaviour
Toxoplasma gondii
In the endless sort of struggle that neurobiologists have in terms of free will and determinism and all of that, my feeling has always been that there's not a whole lot of free will out there, and if there is, it's in the least interesting places and getting more sparse all the time.
But there's a whole new realm of neuroscience which I've been thinking about, and starting to do research on, that throws in another element of things going on below the surface affecting our behavior. And it's got to do with this utterly bizarre world of parasites manipulating our behavior. It turns out that this is not all that surprising. There are all sorts of parasites out there that get into some organism, and what they need to do is parasitize the organism and increase the likelihood that they, the parasite, will be fruitful and multiply—and in some cases, they can manipulate the behavior of the host.
Some of these are pretty astounding. There's a barnacle that rides on the back of a crab and is able to inject oestrogenic hormones into the crab if the crab is male, and at that point the male's behavior becomes feminized. The male crab digs a hole in the sand for his eggs, except he has no eggs, but the barnacle sure does and has just succeeded in getting this guy to build a nest for him. There are other examples where wasps parasitize caterpillars and get them to defend the wasp's nests for them—extraordinary examples.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June - July 2019 من Nexus.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June - July 2019 من Nexus.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Your body is crying out for...dirt
The idea of eating dirt isn't new. It's been around a long time, dating back more than 2,500 years. Hunters and gatherers couldn't avoid it, and regardless of culture, there's evidence people have included traces of dirt in their diets throughout the ages.
Strange Times…
A PRIMER ON MALEFIC ENTITIES
Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons
How the great powers could cripple societies and blame the Sun
Carbon Dioxide: no big deal
Pure physics climate statistics explained in plain terms
Bill Gates and the uncertain future of food security
As we approach a [northern hemisphere] winter of discontent1 and global food systems go from bad to worse, there's trouble in paradise.
Biological Transmutations
Over the past two centuries a large number of experiments with animals, seeds and bacteria have demonstrated that biology is not only a chemical process, but also a nuclear one. It has been demonstrated that some minerals transmute into other minerals. With the development of lowenergy nuclear reactions (cold fusion), this topic is back in the scientific agenda. Very few scientists work in this field, but its importance is such that its further development is crucial.
Science News
"Dark Matter" may finally be on its way out
Four Blind Mice: How Professional Sport Hides Its Corruption From Fans
In 1982, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was tipped off that members of the NBA's New York Knicks were shaving points—that is, fixing games for betting purposes—as a favour to their cocaine dealer.
Autism: A Chemical Perspective
Current research indicates the root cause of autism is GABA-Transaminase
The Great Reset Architects
What they don't want us to understand about economics
