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Christ, that's scary. If us mammals ever get something similar we'll have a zombie apocalypse going on...

ericjang 11y ago
That's the basic premise behind the monsters in "The Last of Us": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us
DonaldFisk 11y ago
We do get something similar: toxoplasmosis. Parasite makes mice lose fear of cats permanently: http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-permanently-1.13777 http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-... Fatal attraction in rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/ Effects of Toxoplasma on Human Behavior: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/
- pvaldes 11y ago
  Please do not spread this false ideas. As other diseases toxoplamosis damage nerves in human foetus, either kills or make permanent damages in the nerves. But this is not the same as "converting adult people in remote-controlled robots", there is not a single proof of such evil plan, or that the parasite does this on purpose.
  - DonaldFisk 11y ago
    The papers I referred to have not been retracted, and there have been other studies which back their conclusions. So they aren't false ideas. The changes described are the result of people being infected after birth, and not the result of damage to foetal nerves. I'm not sure how a protozoan could be said to do anything "on purpose". What it does to rats is, however, clearly adaptive behaviour which enhances its chances to complete its life-cycle. This doesn't work when people are infected, as we are are a dead-end host, but it's thought it affects human behaviour via a mechanism similar to the one which works well in rats. The behaviour of people infected is in no way similar to that of B-movie zombies, I'll grant you that.
    - pvaldes 11y ago
      It should be noted that Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model has been greatly criticized by many researchers because of the inability of replication

That's the basic premise behind the monsters in "The Last of Us": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us

DonaldFisk 11y ago

We do get something similar: toxoplasmosis. Parasite makes mice lose fear of cats permanently: http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-permanently-1.13777 http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-... Fatal attraction in rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/ Effects of Toxoplasma on Human Behavior: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/

pvaldes 11y ago
Please do not spread this false ideas. As other diseases toxoplamosis damage nerves in human foetus, either kills or make permanent damages in the nerves. But this is not the same as "converting adult people in remote-controlled robots", there is not a single proof of such evil plan, or that the parasite does this on purpose.
- DonaldFisk 11y ago
  The papers I referred to have not been retracted, and there have been other studies which back their conclusions. So they aren't false ideas. The changes described are the result of people being infected after birth, and not the result of damage to foetal nerves. I'm not sure how a protozoan could be said to do anything "on purpose". What it does to rats is, however, clearly adaptive behaviour which enhances its chances to complete its life-cycle. This doesn't work when people are infected, as we are are a dead-end host, but it's thought it affects human behaviour via a mechanism similar to the one which works well in rats. The behaviour of people infected is in no way similar to that of B-movie zombies, I'll grant you that.
  - pvaldes 11y ago
    It should be noted that Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model has been greatly criticized by many researchers because of the inability of replication