Parasitic Wasp Reprograms Its Host Spider 39
Dan writes: "The New York Times has an article about a bizarre Costa Rican spider parasite. This tiny wasp larva forces its host, an orb spider, to do its bidding before killing it. Instead of building a normal round web, the spider spends its last night stringing together a frame. The larva then kills the spider and uses the frame to support its cocoon. The scientist who discovered the behavior still doesn't know how the parasite does it." Since this is an older article, there's probably some more recent information available about this critter.
Re:Creepy Philosphy Note... & a Practial Appli (Score:3, Insightful)
Only problem with this is that a *LOT* of research would have to be done before releasing it into the environment. You could affect a lot of other fly species that are very closely related to the fruit fly, but are otherwise harmless to crops.
I'm from Australia and we've learnt our leasons the hard way here. Cane toads are probably our best known stuff up. They were introduced to control another introduced species (a bettle I think) that was eating sugar cane. The Cane toad ended up completely ignore the beetle and eating every native insect it could. Now it's a major pest that is very hard to control.
Re:Evolution? (Score:1, Insightful)
Yes, "Seems" is the important word. Try reading some Richard Dawkins. I think that'll help straighten you out.
Re:Creepy Philosphy Note... & a Practial Appli (Score:2, Insightful)
Nope, it wasn't you. It was the grasses (wheat) secreting a chemical (starch) in order to use you (humans) as a weapon (agriculture) in their eons-old war against the trees.