Comments on: Brainwashed by a parasite

Brainwashed by a parasite

puke & cry — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:48:01 -0800

Brainwashed by a parasite A look at Cordyceps, a parasitic fungi that infects insects and other arthropods. Don't miss the videos, especially this one. They're the best part.

By: cmgonzalez

cmgonzalez — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:53:02 -0800

*pukes & cries* (sorry)

By: -t

-t — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:10:30 -0800

Wow. Okay, I was having trouble sleeping, now I'm not really worried about that. I'm going to clean the house now... really... really well.

By: davejay

davejay — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:16:12 -0800

Uhm. Er. Well. Um. It's one thing to read about such things in a book, say, but there's a whole lot of vivid imagery in the pictures and videos you've linked.

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:18:06 -0800

Will Smith, Angela Bassett & Jon Voight! Next Summer! Get Ready for the invasion! Will Smith, Jon Voight! Spawn of Man!

By: kurtroehl

kurtroehl — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:25:50 -0800

Eww fungus. Stroma sounds like a dirty word. Rather tame next to the botfly though...

By: panamax

panamax — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:30:22 -0800

Nemesis Fungus (BG) [T] [x]: Destroy enchanted Insect, enchant x target Insects with power less than 2 with Nemesis Fungus spore tokens. sorry, it's been a decade since I've played MtG. . .

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:40:07 -0800

No wonder I find so many bugs in the pool.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:40:55 -0800

In 1985 a biology major friend told me about this fungus. I thought she was making it up. Like most Bio majors she smoked a great deal of organic material. So, anyway, I based a radio drama horror story on the idea. It aired only once. It was so over the top with a big "deforestation of the rain forest is bad" message with native drums and an eagle "screeeeeee" sound and everything. See. An evil ambitious logging executive survives a plane crash in the jungle with the help of a kindly Shaman. Exec then betrays the shaman so he can do his evil logging. But the exec gets his comeuppance while riding the elevator up to the 75th floor to sign the big deal. See the fungus he unknowingly contracted in the jungle (an event that was heavily foreshadowed - I mean HEAVILY - like a 2x4 hitting you on the kneecaps) makes his head explode when the elevator "gets to the top." It was awful. Just awful. But now I can say "BASED ON TRUE EVENTS!"

By: alexei

alexei — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:46:18 -0800

tkchrist: I'll say. A head explosion on the radio, without the graphic gore? What were you thinking??

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:46:32 -0800

No thanks! I only want brain diseases from cute and furry kitty cats!

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:59:34 -0800

Bah. It's not mind control until you've got a tiny wasp on your back steering you with your mandibles like a remote controlled car.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:21:46 -0800

Did anybody else have Praga Khan's Injected with a Poison running though their head while reading this post? No? Just me, then? Okay.

By: clearly

clearly — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:54:10 -0800

Have any enemies with ant farms? also, seanyboy, I want video!

By: hal9k

hal9k — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 03:15:27 -0800

seanyboy: Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show (QT)

By: hal9k

hal9k — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 03:20:06 -0800

Sorry, seanboy. Misread comment but I can see clearly now.

By: bonobo

bonobo — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:50:30 -0800

Are there any *MEOW* simil*MEOW*arities to Toxoplasma *MEOW* gondii?

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:56:09 -0800

Awesome. Btw, clicking on the parasite tag takes me to some of my favorite before-breakfast FPPs evar.

By: Hubajube

Hubajube — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:56:19 -0800

See also the Lancet Fluke for an ant parasite that convinces it to climb to the top of a blade of grass. This one does it for a different purpose though.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 05:40:49 -0800

Some people will take it for a nice pick-me-up, too. Your mileage, and gag reflex, may vary.

By: hifiparasol

hifiparasol — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:24:19 -0800

hal9k, nothing is creepier than jumpy 8mm footage of fighting bugs. Thanks for that.

By: munchingzombie

munchingzombie — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:28:54 -0800

I used to work at a vitamin retailer. A distributor gave me a bottle of cordycepts which I still have. This is extra creepy now!

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:32:55 -0800

Must cleanse brain now. Watching those worms made me want to go drwon myself too!

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:40:42 -0800

They sell that stuff all over China. On every street-corner there is a shady little Tibetan man with "singing bowls" and other trinkets usually sold for exorbatant prices in boutiques across the West laid out on a cloth with ropes sewn to the corners. If the cops come he pulls the ropes and the cloth becomes a bag in seconds. Always, always laid out in the crap is a little bundle of the cordycepts "worms" (really the fungus that has "fossilized" a grub). This the Han Chinese haggle and argue over and end up buying for ridiculous prices, the other stuff doesn;t really sell, it mainly there as an excuse to be selling stuff. Note: they use similar tactics to sell weed in Yunnan.

By: bepe

bepe — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:49:39 -0800

Ah! In the early 90s, a group of Chinese women under the training of Ma Junren rose out of total obscurity, shattered a bunch of distance records and set crazy marks that haven't really been approached since. Performance enhancing drugs were of course suspected. Ma attributed the success of his "army" to hard training, turtle soup, and "caterpillar fungus." I always wondered what he meant by that. Now I know, thanks!

By: xthlc

xthlc — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:59:10 -0800

There was a very disgusting episode of the X-Files based on these plucky little mushrooms.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:37:05 -0800

I saw this when Planet Earth first aired, and it sufficiently freaked me out that I immediately started pondering how I could work it into a B movie script. Which, of course, is slang for, 'how can I use this against my co-workers under the guise of research for a script'.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:08:08 -0800

Funny how all the vaccinations and cures that we humans point to as the great inventions of our time will probably be the things that destroy us in the long run due to role these diseases used to serve in population control.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:45:22 -0800

I just felt sorry for a cockroach. It's a Christmas miracle.

By: davebush

davebush — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:02:47 -0800

It's all part of God's plan.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:16:51 -0800

This is all completely disgusting and distrubing, but I gotta say this is one of the finest posts I've seen in a while. Strange and fresh. Bravo.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:41:59 -0800

You guys can hate on the fungus all you like, but you'll change your tune when the Buggers come.

By: davejay

davejay — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:52:58 -0800

Botfly vs Cordyceps is the new Alien vs Predator.

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:29:31 -0800

For more creepy parasite footage: the Gordian worm infests crickets and makes them jump into water, then swims away. Good times with parasite mind control!

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:53:59 -0800

Yeah, I neglected to mention the gordian worm videos on there. There's another one where the worm crawls out of a frogs mouth. Pretty gross stuff.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:32:02 -0800

Cordyceps may be lethal for insects but it is has remarkably beneficial effects when taken as a supplement. Medicinal Mushrooms Support Cancer Treatment Recent studies in New Zealand show that a combination of Reishi and Cordyceps extracts had beneficial effects on the quality of life for some advanced cancer patients. Researchers believe that a mixture of the active ingredients from Cordyceps is not as well researched as Reishi but Cancer Research UK suggests that, 'Cordyceps may be useful for cancer patients due to its enhancement of cell-mediated immunity, oxygen free radical scavenging and support for cellular bioenergy systems'. Medicinal mushrooms have latent cancer preventative properties. Studies in Japan and Brazil strongly suggest that regular consumption over prolonged periods significantly reduce the levels of cancer incidence. and From Sloan Kettering's site re supplements Cordyceps stimulates the number of T helper cells, prolongs the survival of lymphocytes, enhances TNF-alpha and interleukin 1 production, and increases the activity of natural killer cells in cultured rat Kupffer cells (3). Enhanced proliferation of erythroid progenitor cell in the bone marrow of mice is also shown (8). One study suggests that cordyceps can stimulate progesterone production in animal cells (5). Another study shows that cordyceps may be effective against tumor celIs by down-regulating MHC class II antigen expression (7). In addition, anecdotal data suggest reduction of cyclosporin and aminoglycoside-induced renal toxicity, although the mechanism of action is not known (4). Cordyceps is used for a wide range of conditions including fatigue, sexual dysfunction, coughs, and as an adaptogen or immune stimulant. In addition to anecdotal data regarding efficacy, small clinical trials have been performed, but only review articles are available in English (2) (3) (4). No adverse effects have been reported. Although no known drug interactions exist, blood glucose should be monitored in diabetics using cordyceps due to possible hypoglycemic effect (1). In addition, animal studies show proliferation of progenitor red blood cells (8); therefore, Cordyceps should not be used by those with myelogenous type cancers.

By: christopherious

christopherious — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:02:31 -0800

Rekated: The Stink Ant of the Cameroon of West Central Africa (Megolaponera Foetens) from The Museum Of Jurassic Technology.

By: christopherious

christopherious — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:02:50 -0800

Er, related.