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Cat Parasite may affect our Psychology (2006)
- itistoday 17y agoThe title of the article (not this post) is outrageous! "Cat Parasite Affects Everything We Feel and Do" Even the content of the article itself disagrees with the title: "He's not suggesting that it's a big player in cultural evolution. Lots of other things are more powerful, ranging from geography to weather to the availability of natural resources." And that's the "popular account". Consider what the actual research paper probably said. Reminds me of this comic: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/files/2009/05/phd051809s.gif http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/files/2009/05... Side comment: This is a bit of old news (2006).
- nollidge 17y agoOr this comic: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1623 http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1623
- jbooth 17y agoThat's why I toned it down -- I still thought it was cool, though. Apparently the parasite evolved by convincing rats that cats smell like fun, because it needs to make it to a cat's stomach to reproduce.
- NathanKP 17y agoI need independent verification before I can believe such an improbable study.
- sausagefeet 17y agohttp://edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html http://edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html An interesting video interview with Robert Sapolsky on Toxo
- zargon 17y agoduplicate http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=789517 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=789517
- nollidge 17y agoArticle headline is ridiculously overstated. How about: "Cat Parasite Has Some Odd Psychological Effects In People Who Are Infected By It, And So Probably Had Some Minor Influence On Cultural Evolution, Which Isn't Really All That Surprising, If You Think About It".
- intellectronica 17y agoMore on that in this episode of the wonderful radiolab: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/09/25 http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/09/25
- jpablo 17y agoI knew it. I'm getting rid of that little beast right now!
- devin 17y agoUgh. I wish this myth would go away. I've encountered so many people that have heard of this and have no idea how credible it is.
- Tichy 17y agoIf you have no idea, why do you call it a myth? Sounds as if you have the idea that it is only a myth.
- Confusion 17y agoHe meant that the 'people that have heard this' have no idea. I'm not sure whether his sentence can be properly interpreted as such, but even if it's grammatically dubious, the intention is clear (to me). He probably knows that the effect is vastly overstated in popular accounts, as other commenters have pointed out.
- nooneelse 17y agoI think the labeling of it as a cat parasite is interesting but misses the mark a bit. By messing with rat brains it helps feed cats. From the cat's perspective, it can sound more like a symbiotic relationship.