Behavioral Manipulation by a Parasite

I almost drank one of these things once (accidentally):

More like this

I've been essentially caffeine-free for about five years now. After my stroke, when the migraines got progressively worse, all sorts of things that never bothered me before suddenly began serving as migraine triggers. Peanut butter. Bananas. Yoghurt. Onions. And caffeine. Now, caffeinated…
Once upon a time, there were three giant hippopotamuses... No, Daddy, it was three little pigs. This is a completely different story, honey. Once upon a time, there were three giant hippopotamuses, who lived together in a river in Africa. They lived in a house. Well, hippos spend most of their time…
I'm in the mood for a "feel good" story with the past week's fixation in swine flu. Half A Glass Of Wine A Day May Boost Life Expectancy By Five Years: The Dutch authors base their findings on a total of 1,373 randomly selected men whose cardiovascular health and life expectancy at age 50 were…
So we arrive at the cabin, and something seems amiss. With each new clue uncovered, we are at first disturbed, then aghast, and finally, astonished. None of it made very much sense until we found the note. Wow. The note. The reason we were there at all was to drop off an old refrigerator and to…

I'd stay away from the Washington Ave. bridge until I was sure... Fascinating and very creepy at the same time. I could see where this would really change the way we think about malaria vectors.

Daniel Dennett often uses a similar example in talks he gives; a parasite (can't remember the name right now) that causes ants to climb to the top of blades of grass or other plants that make them more likely to end up in the stomach of a sheep /cow or other ruminant where the parasite then reproduces.

By Christopher (not verified) on 28 Nov 2007 #permalink

finally! an airtight excuse that can explain away nearly any lapse in judgement that i might be called out on.

woah! that was a close one. i know of a parasite Microphalllus which controls the behavior of its snail host Potamopyrgus antipodarumand another, Blatillaria i guess which manipulates the behavior of another snail. articles are at http://scipdf.blogspot.com