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I'm always alarmed that there are people who intentionally eat cordyceps. I first learned about them in regards to the mind control effects they have over their
by ksaj 2y ago
I'm always alarmed that there are people who intentionally eat cordyceps. I first learned about them in regards to the mind control effects they have over their zombie prey. I guess they don't infect humans, but it seems like a huge risk.
- kjs3 2y agoThere's a pretty huge genetic jump from 'infecting caterpillars' to 'infecting humans'. It's not like a chemical poison where 'it kills that species, so it'll probably kill me'; those genes have to evolve to the specific host, and that takes time and a favorable environment. Lot's of things to worry about before that.
- jjk166 2y agoIt takes time for a complex relationship between parasite and host to form, but it might take substantially less for an adaptation to the original host to have a negative affect on a different host. For a hypothetical example a slight modification of the chemical pathway that induces light seeking in insects may interfere with visual processing in a human. There are about 1.5 million species of entomopathogenic fungi, and we generally don't know the exact pathway by which they attack their hosts. Conceptually similar, Toxoplasma Gondii is a protozoan that reproduces in feline digestive tissue, and it evolved to get there by manipulating mice into getting themselves eaten. Humans infected with it obviously don't sacrifice themselves to cats, but it does appear to have several negative affects on human brain chemistry.
- kjs3 2y agoHumans infected with it obviously don't sacrifice themselves to cats Not a cat owner, I see. But yes, genetic collateral damage is always a possibility, but that's (also) very different than the idea that people eating cordyceps will one day soon start sprouting fruiting bodies out of their ears (and/or craving brains).