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Mind Control Parasites in Half of All Humans

Posted by Zonk on Sun Feb 12, 2006 05:28 AM
from the it's-in-me-mind! dept.
Sci-Fi Science
iiii writes "According to a Yahoo News story, half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, a parasite shown to alter the brain function of rats, inducing them into behavior that benefits the parasite but is suicidal for the rat. So what affect does it have on humans? Article comes complete with Heinlein 'Puppet Masters' reference. I call dibs on using Toxoplasma as a name for my rock band."
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[+] Parasites Makes Us Dumber or Sexier 240 comments
odie_q writes "It has long been known that the Toxoplasma gondii parasite alters its host's behavior, but now it seems the way it alters it depends on the sex of the host. From the article: 'A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an Australian researcher says ... Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women. On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.'"
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Mind Control Parasites in Half of All Humans 25 Comments More /

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  • And the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by satcomdaddy1 (938185) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:32AM (#14698958)
    Insert Political/religious/OS statement here.

    Really should be more insightful than funny, but that's not for me to decide.

  • Welcome... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Elitist_Phoenix (808424) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:33AM (#14698962)
    I for one have ALREADY welcomed our parasitic overlords.

  • Yet another proof... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheCreeep (794716) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:34AM (#14698970)
    ...of God's Intelligent Design(TM) here on Earth!!

  • just a new name (Score:5, Funny)

    by waterbear (190559) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:36AM (#14698976)
    'Mind control parasites':

    'Toxoplasma'? I thought they were called politicians ...

    (if only it was _only_ half of all humans ...)

    -wb-

  • No surprise here! (Score:5, Funny)

    by croddy (659025) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:36AM (#14698978)
    I favor unreasonably huge subsidies to the brain slug planet.

  • Name taken (Score:5, Informative)

    by lysergic.acid (845423) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:41AM (#14698989) Homepage
    There's already a German punk band called Toxoplasma [toxo.de].

  • Wowa, (Score:5, Interesting)

    by XMilkProject (935232) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:44AM (#14699001) Homepage
    All the posts so far seem to be joking about this, but it sorta freaks me out!

    It seems to be strong evidence that parasites can control the behavior of a host in fairly complex ways, which opens up alot of sci-fi movies for a real life encore.

    Anyone familiar with these parasites in more detail? Any information? Are there other parasites that humans have that do cause changes of behavior?

    How do these things evolve? Are they complex lifeforms, or very very simple?

    • Re:Wowa, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 1u3hr (530656) on Sunday February 12 2006, @06:09AM (#14699066)
      It seems to be strong evidence that parasites can control the behavior of a host in fairly complex ways

      "Influence" rather than "control". TFA originates in a site that looks for SF in the news, sometimes they look rather too hard. But consider how you act when you have a cold -- sneezing, for instance, creating a nice aerosol spray to spread the virus. Many skin infections casue itchiness, making you scratch and distribute flakes, containing spores; etc. (If this is Intelligent Design, I'd like to ask who is the Chosen Race -- us or the parasites?)

  • This could not be news (Score:5, Interesting)

    by skillet-thief (622320) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:44AM (#14699002) Homepage Journal
    ...or at least it doesn't matter. Toxoplasma has been around and known for a long time. The only real news is that infection rates are *down* (from something like 90% iirc not so long ago) because humans are spending less and less quality time with rodents. This mostly concerns pregnant women, who risk losing their fetus if the *catch* toxoplasma during the pregnancy. So it is far better to be part of the 50% who is already infected so that your antibodies are prepped. So yeah, move along.

    • Re:This could not be news (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Skreems (598317) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:50AM (#14699025)
      Does this explain why religion is on the decline? As less people are infected, less display symptoms of schizophrenia, such as "feeling the divine presence", and "talking to God". Maybe true devotion in the middle ages was a neurochemical imbalance caused by a parasite, and now that humans are living more cleanly, the "faith" we have left is just residual from the earlier teachings?

    • The common infection route is cat poo (Score:5, Interesting)

      by nietsch (112711) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:59AM (#14699048) Homepage Journal
      There is some evidence that the parasite is manipulating his intemediate host's(rodents) behaviour to end up in the final host: cats. Cat droppings spread it again to rodents nearby. This mechanism has two species that benefit from it (the parasite and the cat), so it is likely this interaction reinforces itself.

  • ALIEN PARASITES ENSLAVE HUMANS! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:45AM (#14699005)
    Or not. From the Wikipedia:

    Toxoplasma gondii is a species of parasitic protozoa that lives in cats and other warm-blooded animals and can cause the disease toxoplasmosis in humans. It belongs to the Apicomplexa and is the only known member of the genus Toxoplasma.

    and under "Toxoplasmosis"
    Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. It infects most animals and causes human parasitic diseases, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. People usually get infected by eating raw or undercooked meat, or more rarely, by contact with cat faeces.

    At least one third of the world population may have contracted a toxoplasmosis infection in their lifetime but, after the acute infection has passed, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, people with a weakened immune system are particularly susceptible, such as people infected with HIV. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases and can affect the heart, liver, and eyes (chorioretinitis).

    Much less interesting than TFA's speculation based on Toxoplasma's pathology in rats, but more credible.

    What's more, TFA does not give any indication about how they came up with the "half the human population" figure.

    Posted AC to avoid charges of Wikipedia-karma-whoring.

  • the cats are behind it (Score:5, Funny)

    by arkhan_jg (618674) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:49AM (#14699021)
    Since toxoplasma makes rats unafraid of or even like cat urine, I think it's all a diabolical scheme by the cats. I used to think cats only tolerated us until they could figure out how to operate a can-opener, but now I've realised its a much more cunning scheme - to make humans the slaves of cats!

    Old ladies are obviously the most affected after a lifetime of exposure, but its only a matter of time before we all become food suppliers and grooming slaves to our cat overlords. Just look what happens to people when you show them pictures of fluffy kittens [google.co.uk], they go all gooey and unable to think straight - my girlfriend is a typical example, she defends her cats against any criticism, because they're so 'cute'.

    We must act now, while some of us can still see what the cats are up to. We must destroy the cat menace!

    • Re:the cats are behind it (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lisandro (799651) on Sunday February 12 2006, @06:04AM (#14699052)
      Well, it does make sense. For a dog, you're God and the universe revolves arround you. Cats wouldn't give two shits about you if you weren't the one feeding them - in fact, they always have this "leave me alone, dumbass" look on them after they're done with their meal. The ungrateful bastards :)

  • Don't give Sony-BMG ideas! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ettlz (639203) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:55AM (#14699036) Homepage Journal
    The term "bio-rootkit" is not one I wish to see in common usage!

  • And... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kaenneth (82978) on Sunday February 12 2006, @05:59AM (#14699045) Homepage Journal
    And don't forget those worms in Africa the tunnel through living human flesh, causing burning pain to make the host seek water for relief; only to continue it's life cycle. I heard recently that a type of virus may be linked to obesity; like the bactiria linked with ulcers.

    However, cause and effect may be reversed; perhaps the virus likes fatty foods (fat humans); and perhaps that bactiria prefers the chemical balance in a bleeding stomach. But this is good research; seeing that elimiating the parasite from the rats changes behavior.

    But, for the ultimate in behavior changing infections, you only have to look at your own mouth. Language. and the other aspects of human "culture"... "culture" is an interesting word, in that it can refer to fashionable art; or parasitical organisms.

    Really, humans are not much more than hosts for self replicating information. everything from the English language to Hula Hoops. I bet if you imagine living forever inside a machine; you probably think of your 'mind' being preserved; instead of a machine that pumps fluids through a mindless body (insert Republican joke here)

    All that being a Funny, Japanese-Speaking, Mozart-loving, Cat-loving, Slashdot-reading fellow is, is a combinatation of contaigous memes.

  • More discussion of toxoplasma (Score:5, Informative)

    by rdwald (831442) on Sunday February 12 2006, @06:07AM (#14699062)
    Cecil Adams wrote a article [straightdope.com] discussing toxoplama's effect on birth defects and schizophrenia, including the possibility that toxoplasma floods the human brain with LSD.

  • This is not a dupe (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ambush (120586) on Sunday February 12 2006, @06:11AM (#14699069)
    C'mon guys, this isn't a duplicate story. This one is referring to the other half of the population. The truth is that we're all infected. ;-)

  • All above posts are FUD (Score:5, Funny)

    by eclectro (227083) on Sunday February 12 2006, @06:12AM (#14699071)
    Toxoplasma is actually the eggs for body thetans. If you do not want to believe this, read this link [cdc.gov]

    The earth is a battlefield, my friend. I'm going to get audited errrr tested.

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