That post about S. coleoptrata isn’t in the book. There’s another non-booker coming up later today.

I’m trying to do a couple book posts + at least one non-book thing each day.

DOUG117

a) Joke.
b) It is possible this situation makes the crab feel loved, but I doubt it.
c) Joke.

Toxoplasma gondii doesn’t just change rat behavior.

If, like half the population, you’re a human infected with T. gondii, you’re about twice as likely to die in a traffic accident. That’s the same increased risk as having a blood alcohol level of 0.06. Infection has also been associated with schizophrenia.

And now we just need a parasite that makes zombie unicorns…

Maggie Koerth-Baker, my second favourite parasite is a local tapeworm called Ligula intestinalis. Its primary host- the host that carries the adult tapeworm- is a bird, and the intermediate host- the “stepping stone” that carries one of the larval stages- is a fish. The bird acquires Ligula by eating infected fish. Seems simple enough, but the parasite makes things easier for itself by making the fish swim upside down- this disrupts the camouflage of the fish, and the fish’s white belly attracts the attention of the bird.

My favourite parasite is Dracunculus, mostly because of its awesome name.

Mine too: joke

But this doesn’t lead me (or many of my colleagues, AFAIK) to religion. Because so much of science is about looking at complex systems and finding that there’s an unintuitively simple, mechanistic explanation for it. So when we see some new, wonderful and fascinating phenomenon all of our experience tells us that there’s going to be an elegantly simple explanation, if only we can find it.

Er, the tl;dr version:
We don’t turn to God to explain the mysteries of the universe because we’re used to finding that mysteries usually have pretty simple answers. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist, it just suggests that he doesn’t need to exist as an explanation for all this cool stuff we see.

RE “looking into the mind, the aether-4th dimensional realm, etc.,etc. ”
If you can come up with a hypothesis and a way to test it, then congratulations – you’re doing science! The mind is the subject of enormous and intense study, as are further dimensions.

If there’s something that scientist aren’t looking in to, it’s because no-one can think of an interesting and objectively testable question. It’s all very well hand-waving and making impressive statements about aether, but until you can nail down exactly what you mean and use that to make a testable prediction, the scientific method can’t help you.

Cat “parasite” (Although, in this case, I think it has a more symbiotic relationship with the cat, it’s not all take) that when it gets into a rat or mouse, it makes them approach cats.

I don’t eat crab, but even if I did, I don’t think I would anymore.

Sorry, I know it’s trite and all, but, well, it’s also true, so I couldn’t help myself.

For sheer numbers of parasites, my fave fish is the sea raven. Not only does it growl at you when you pick it up, you can often see knots of roundworms bulging just beneath its skin.

I do this for a living, and I love my job.

that sounds disturbingly familiar

I thought the same thing. I don’t see why they wouldn’t be unless they are easily recognized. Gross. So gross.

It’s the male larvae (male adults?) that really do it. Free-swimming penises, just looking for a female….