3 ms·
Instead of making mice seek out cats, this one encourages poor public health policies in people.
by sethammons 3mo ago
Instead of making mice seek out cats, this one encourages poor public health policies in people.
- CalRobert 3mo agoIf it results in more and fitter offspring it will be selected for.
- eqvinox 3mo agoSounds like a nice topic for a PhD for someone 100 or 1000 generations down the line...
- ElProlactin 3mo agoI don't have a parasite in my brain so take everything I say with a grain of salt but at this pace I'm skeptical there will be 100 more generations.
- eqvinox 3mo agoWell I didn't say it would be generations of humans ;-)
- hogwasher 3mo agotoxoplasmosis doesn't actually do that to mice. It makes them less scared, but iirc, not even so much that they don't flee. it's one of those studies that got blown up into a worldwide news story sensation even though the actual paper didn't say what headlines claimed it did. I don't know if it was ever proven replicable or not, either.
- tim-tday 3mo agoMaking prey less scared of the predator makes them significantly more likely to be eaten by that predator. The reality is even worse than “seeking out cats” because it means if it does this in humans, (which it appears to do) those among us who get infected will engage in all manner of risky, dangerous and destructive behaviors.