scientists are finally opening the black box of parasite mind control
October 17, 2014 12:09 PM Subscribe
I think I just set a record for how quickly I closed a browser tab.
posted by jbickers at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by jbickers at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Great! I'm sure there's absolutely no way that discovering the secret fo mind control could go wrong!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:23 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:23 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
A predator protected from other predators, the ladybug would seem to have the perfect insect life—were it not for wasps that lay their eggs inside its living body.Minor detail, really.
posted by jeather at 12:27 PM on October 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Libersat and his colleagues have found that the wasp delicately snakes its stinger into the roach’s brain, sensing its way to the regions that initiate movements. The wasp douses the neurons with a cocktail of neurotransmitters, which work like psychoactive drugs. Libersat’s experiments suggest that they tamp down the activity of neurons that normally respond to danger by prompting the cockroach to escape.
I believe Cannabis sativa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and HTML have evolved much the same technique, for much the same reasons.
posted by Devonian at 12:35 PM on October 17, 2014 [11 favorites]
I believe Cannabis sativa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and HTML have evolved much the same technique, for much the same reasons.
posted by Devonian at 12:35 PM on October 17, 2014 [11 favorites]
I remember some episode of Planet Earth that showed ants and other insects that had been infected with a fungus, how it was changing their behavior, what other insects in the colony did when they recognized such an infected member, and how in the end the fungus grew and burst out through the exoskeleton and spread new spores.
It's not just bacteria that do this. And it's fascinating (and utterly horrifying).
posted by hippybear at 12:39 PM on October 17, 2014
It's not just bacteria that do this. And it's fascinating (and utterly horrifying).
posted by hippybear at 12:39 PM on October 17, 2014
Thomas Bernhard: "In fact I love everything except nature, which I find sinister; I have become familiar with the malignity and implacability of nature through the way it has dealt with my own body and soul, and being unable to contemplate the beauties of nature without at the same time contemplating its malignity and implacability, I fear it and avoid it whenever I can."
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:43 PM on October 17, 2014 [14 favorites]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:43 PM on October 17, 2014 [14 favorites]
I'm currently participating in a closed-trial human MC test and I really don't see anything wrong with this.
posted by sidereal at 12:44 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by sidereal at 12:44 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
9 out of 10 host bodies say "I'M FINE, NOTHING IS CONTROLLING ME"
posted by whuppy at 12:53 PM on October 17, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 12:53 PM on October 17, 2014 [9 favorites]
All the more evidence for the Intelligent Designer!
posted by hat_eater at 12:57 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by hat_eater at 12:57 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Of course, this is intelligent design. Do you think the god(s) above/below were content to make happy little things to romp around these green gardens? He/she/they are god(s), and as such, are likely to get bored with the standard design for creatures simply eating each-other in various ways.
Really, I'd like to hear about the possible ways that organisms evolved to include these capabilities. You would think that an imperfect control method would result in the would-be controllers getting killed, putting an end to the earlier attempts at mind control, but that is clearly not the case.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:06 PM on October 17, 2014
Really, I'd like to hear about the possible ways that organisms evolved to include these capabilities. You would think that an imperfect control method would result in the would-be controllers getting killed, putting an end to the earlier attempts at mind control, but that is clearly not the case.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:06 PM on October 17, 2014
I remember some episode of Planet Earth that showed ants and other insects that had been infected with a fungus, how it was changing their behavior, what other insects in the colony did when they recognized such an infected member, and how in the end the fungus grew and burst out through the exoskeleton and spread new spores.Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:17 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
In any case, I am against this.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:19 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:19 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
"My name is Legion, for we are many."
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:25 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:25 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've read some non-fiction about this, and it just gets more horrifying as you read more. I'd be interested in fictional takes, but the only one I know of offhand was not very good.
posted by jeather at 1:30 PM on October 17, 2014
posted by jeather at 1:30 PM on October 17, 2014
There was a BBC Nature programme a long time ago which showed another type of (bigger) wasp doing the same thing to a catterpiller. What is it with wasps and just being utter bastards? Why do they even exist? And flies? Wtf nature?
The ant thing hippybear mentioned was also in the same series (AFAIR) - the ant that is infected starts acting funny and the other ants recognise the symptoms of infection and carry it away and throw it off a cliff or wherever they can because the infected ant grows a spore holder that is a long stem right out of its forehead, and that explodes, showering spores down. It is amazing behaviour, but ants make me icky as well.
posted by marienbad at 1:31 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
The ant thing hippybear mentioned was also in the same series (AFAIR) - the ant that is infected starts acting funny and the other ants recognise the symptoms of infection and carry it away and throw it off a cliff or wherever they can because the infected ant grows a spore holder that is a long stem right out of its forehead, and that explodes, showering spores down. It is amazing behaviour, but ants make me icky as well.
posted by marienbad at 1:31 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
The latest episode of the Big Picture Science podcast interviews a biologist about the ant and the mind-controlling fungus mentioned above. Great stuff, from an excellent podcast series.
posted by Triplanetary at 1:32 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Triplanetary at 1:32 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Dicrocoelium dendriticum Life Cycle
Dicrocoelium dendriticum spends its adult life inside the liver of its host. After mating, the eggs are excreted in the feces.
The first intermediate host, the terrestrial snail (Cochlicopa lubrica in the United States), consumes the feces, and becomes infected by the larval parasites. The larvae (or miracidium) drill through the wall of the gut and settle in its digestive tract, where they develop into a juvenile stage. The snail attempts to defend itself by walling the parasites off in cysts, which it then excretes and leaves behind in the grass or substrate.
The second intermediate host, an ant (Formica fusca in the United States), uses the trail of snail slime as a source of moisture. The ant then swallows a cyst loaded with hundreds of juvenile lancet flukes. The parasites enter the gut and then drift through its body. Most of the cercariae encyst in the haemocoel of the ant and mature into metacercariae, but one moves to the sub-esophageal ganglion (a cluster of nerve cells underneath the esophagus). There, the fluke takes control of the ant's actions by manipulating these nerves. As evening approaches and the air cools, the infected ant is drawn away from other members of the colony and upward to the top of a blade of grass. Once there, it clamps its mandibles onto the top of the blade and stays there until dawn. Afterward, it goes back to its normal activity at the ant colony. If the host ant were to be subjected to the heat of the direct sun, it would die along with the parasite. Night after night, the ant goes back to the top of a blade of grass until a grazing animal comes along and eats the blade, ingesting the ant along with it, thus putting lancet flukes back inside their host. They live out their adult lives inside the animal, reproducing so that the cycle begins again. Infected ants may contain 100 metacercariae, and a high percentage of ants may be infected. Typical infections in cattle may be in the tens of thousands of adult worms.
posted by andoatnp at 1:36 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Dicrocoelium dendriticum spends its adult life inside the liver of its host. After mating, the eggs are excreted in the feces.
The first intermediate host, the terrestrial snail (Cochlicopa lubrica in the United States), consumes the feces, and becomes infected by the larval parasites. The larvae (or miracidium) drill through the wall of the gut and settle in its digestive tract, where they develop into a juvenile stage. The snail attempts to defend itself by walling the parasites off in cysts, which it then excretes and leaves behind in the grass or substrate.
The second intermediate host, an ant (Formica fusca in the United States), uses the trail of snail slime as a source of moisture. The ant then swallows a cyst loaded with hundreds of juvenile lancet flukes. The parasites enter the gut and then drift through its body. Most of the cercariae encyst in the haemocoel of the ant and mature into metacercariae, but one moves to the sub-esophageal ganglion (a cluster of nerve cells underneath the esophagus). There, the fluke takes control of the ant's actions by manipulating these nerves. As evening approaches and the air cools, the infected ant is drawn away from other members of the colony and upward to the top of a blade of grass. Once there, it clamps its mandibles onto the top of the blade and stays there until dawn. Afterward, it goes back to its normal activity at the ant colony. If the host ant were to be subjected to the heat of the direct sun, it would die along with the parasite. Night after night, the ant goes back to the top of a blade of grass until a grazing animal comes along and eats the blade, ingesting the ant along with it, thus putting lancet flukes back inside their host. They live out their adult lives inside the animal, reproducing so that the cycle begins again. Infected ants may contain 100 metacercariae, and a high percentage of ants may be infected. Typical infections in cattle may be in the tens of thousands of adult worms.
posted by andoatnp at 1:36 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
jeather: Olivia Butler wrote a great science-fiction short story based on parasitism.
posted by Triplanetary at 1:37 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Triplanetary at 1:37 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh and if anybody still thinks "at least it's not us", we are not exempt. Also note that even behaviors as commonplace as coughing and sneezing are in large part induced by parasites to help them spread.
posted by hat_eater at 1:43 PM on October 17, 2014
posted by hat_eater at 1:43 PM on October 17, 2014
I'd be interested in fictional takes, but the only one I know of offhand was not very good.
More of a game, but The Last of Us was inspired in part by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:46 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
More of a game, but The Last of Us was inspired in part by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:46 PM on October 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
The last paragraphs were the worst! Matrioshka puppetmasters!
posted by Omnomnom at 2:00 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Omnomnom at 2:00 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Not mind control per se, but I was thinking of some parasitic fictional species (I think Puppet Masters is the one) and couldn't think of the name so googled and, well, here is a list.
posted by Michele in California at 2:01 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Michele in California at 2:01 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Scott Westerfeld's Peeps is delicious because it sandwiches in the fictional chapters with educational chapters about parasites.
posted by foxfirefey at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2014
posted by foxfirefey at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2014
M.R. Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts is a stunning horror novel and my favorite work of parasitic fungus fiction.
posted by xthlc at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by xthlc at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Oh, it does occur to me that my sons say all the time that the Yeerks in Animorphs are mind control critters.
I haven't read it myself. Anyone know if I am remembering that accurately?
posted by Michele in California at 2:55 PM on October 17, 2014
I haven't read it myself. Anyone know if I am remembering that accurately?
posted by Michele in California at 2:55 PM on October 17, 2014
Those animated bits were maddening to watch. I want photos! Graphic, graphic photos!
As for fiction, the ones that come to mind are . . .
David Brin's The Giving Plague
and Raccoona Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution
posted by Seamus at 3:17 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
As for fiction, the ones that come to mind are . . .
David Brin's The Giving Plague
and Raccoona Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution
posted by Seamus at 3:17 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I don't know how Carl Zimmer does it. He fills his brain with this horrific parasite stuff day in and day out. By choice, I guess. Or is it?
posted by Auden at 3:36 PM on October 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Auden at 3:36 PM on October 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
The wasp’s venom is a veritable punch bowl of different chemicals
I've always adored the National Geographic florid writing style, since way back.
posted by ovvl at 5:41 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've always adored the National Geographic florid writing style, since way back.
posted by ovvl at 5:41 PM on October 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I remember reading and greatly enjoying Bloodchild, above. Cilia-of-Gold, by Stephen Baxter is another haunting one.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:30 PM on October 17, 2014
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:30 PM on October 17, 2014
"The Last of Us was inspired in part by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis"
What? This was on my list to pick up, bunch of people seemed to like it, YOU'RE MESSING WITH ME RIGHT????
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:33 PM on October 17, 2014
What? This was on my list to pick up, bunch of people seemed to like it, YOU'RE MESSING WITH ME RIGHT????
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:33 PM on October 17, 2014
I'm a little annoyed that there is any entymological research going that isn't fundamentally about how to make all the stink bugs die die die die die die die die
posted by Wolfdog at 4:33 AM on October 18, 2014
posted by Wolfdog at 4:33 AM on October 18, 2014
35 comments in and nobody mentions Xenomorphs? For shame, MetaFilter.
posted by ostranenie at 7:28 PM on October 18, 2014
posted by ostranenie at 7:28 PM on October 18, 2014
As far as fiction, the "Instruction For a Help" series is about parasitic mind control and is also one of the cooler pieces of internet narrative construction I've seen.
posted by contraption at 9:50 PM on October 19, 2014
posted by contraption at 9:50 PM on October 19, 2014
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And just in time for Halloween!
posted by Michele in California at 12:20 PM on October 17, 2014 [2 favorites]