are parasites controlling us ?

if this is not in the right place please mods move as necessary

below is a you tube clip that might raise the hairs on the back of your neck,basically an explanation as to how some parasites control the hosts behavior to their own end ...

We humans set a premium on our own free will and independence … and yet there’s a shadowy influence we might not be considering. As science writer Ed Yong explains in this fascinating, hilarious and disturbing talk, parasites have perfected the art of manipulation to an incredible degree. So are they influencing us? It’s more than likely.

Ed Yong begins by showing us beautiful images of animals gathering in large groups. And the reasons for them are fascinating and many. But Yong, an award-winning science writer, points out that most explanations “make an assumption about animal behavior — that they are in charge of their actions.”

But many animals gather in groups, in fact, because they are infected by parasites.

For example, the brine shrimp artemia salina – or sea monkeys — are often found in large red swarms that span for meters. Do they do it for safety or mating? No, they do it because they’re infected by tapeworms. The parasite changes their color, makes them live longer, and makes them congregate in groups. Those large, visible swarms make them easy prey for the flamingo, the final host for the tapeworm. “That is the secret of the artemia swarm,” says Yong. “It’s not safety in numbers, it’s the exact opposite.” Another examples is a suicidal cricket. The horsehair worm larva, which infects the cricket, needs to get to water. It releases a protein that causes the cricket to run to water and jump in, drowning the cricket and releasing a surprisingly large and wiggly worm. Those, says Yong, are only a couple examples of many parasites that override their host’s will. There are fungi, viruses, worms and more.

Yong himself first learned about them from David Attenborough’s, “Trials of Life” program, and Carl Zimmer’s book Parasite Rex. He says, “It’s like the parasites have subverted my own brain.” In part that’s because “they are always compelling. When you study them your lexicon swells with phrases like ‘devoured alive’ and ‘bursts out of the body.'” Another reason Yong loves parasites is that he loves stories, and parasites resist the allure of the obvious stories. For example, he shows a caterpillar that flails around to seemingly protect its young, in white cocoons nearby. In fact, it was infected by a wasp, which laid its eggs in the caterpillar’s body, and they hatched and burst out of the body and formed the cocoons. But some of the wasps stayed behind and controlled the caterpillar to guard their siblings. It is “a head-banging zombie bodyguard defending the offspring of the creature that killed it.”

And now Yong notes some might be hoping for some solace in the fact that such zombifying parasites are rare. In fact, they are not. They are small and easy to overlook, but parasites are everywhere. A team of scientists lead by Kevin Lafferty recently counted the parasites in one area of an estuary. They found that they collectively weighed as much as all the fish and three times as much as all the birds in the area. As he says, “Manipulation is not an oddity, it is a critical and common part of the world around us.”

Scientists have found hundreds of examples, and are starting to understand how they control their hosts. Take the emerald cockroach wasp. It stings a cockroach with a stinger that has sense organs to find specific parts of the brain and injects those parts with venom. It’s a very specific venom — it turns off the roach’s motivation to walk and only that. The wasp can then lead the roach back to its lair, “lays its eggs, burst out of the body, yadda yadda yadda.” Yong would argue that once infected, the cockroach is no longer independent, it’s more of an extension of the wasp — “These hosts won’t get to survive or reproduce, they have as much control over their future as my car.”

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

There's a couple of cool videos linked in this old ATS thread by member 'hikix' that you might find interesting www.abovetopsecret.com...

Also found an interesting article regarding Toxoplasma Gondii, an intestinal parasite found in cats:
www.theatlantic.com...

Edit: The video with the cricket your quote is describing doesn't work anymore, I'll try to find another vid. Found one, same parasite but with a different host:


Just ... ew!

a reply to: BelowLowAnnouncement

i will take a look thankyou

Excellent material, and I must admit, when I began reading it, I thought I was reading a political thread about our leaders and politicians in the USA. and this part: “a head-banging zombie bodyguard defending the offspring of the creature that killed it.”
reminded me of Obama supporters and people like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who defend Obama's offspring, (his insane policies and agendas), even though they have gotten good people killed.
No matter what kind of body a parasite has, insectoid, or humanoid, they are just as deadly to the rest of us.

Interesting subject! And that video is great, really entertaining.

I've been fascinated with rabies since watching "Old Yeller" as a kid. Not sure if a virus counts as a parasite though the behaviour sure is "parasitic".

The movie was a little traumatic to the animal lover I was, but the fact a virus can have that effect stuck with me. I remember my parents explaining how rabies works (after I stopped crying), that it transfers through saliva and alters the brain of the host to become violent and then bite to perpetuate the cycle.

Nature is so cool!

Gotta love TED Talks As usual, very interesting....Thanks

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

hehe i was going to edit the title because i thought people might think it was about our dear leaders

don't forget, that Evoltion occures via pathogenic take overs.

What even is human?

How can we define any such animal as what we are visually seeing and experiencing?
When genes can be knocked out using germline transfer reprogramming a virus to do most of the changing for you.

Now if viruses can do this, The logical conclusion is that most of our DNA came from RNA which is a component of Viruses and the *coding* they carry.

Likewise other organisms, Bacteria. Carry SETS of Rna. Not just a single sequence or a couple. Bacteria are made of multipule secrequences of RNA. And bacteria itself can be infected by viruses.

Parasites make up groups of *cells* that act like bactiera, When we think of advanced parasitic organisms. They are collections of RNA binded bacteria to form a higher complex being with a unified digestive system and so on.

We humans are exactly that but on a bigger scale. We have tamed bacteria and viruses within our body, Some remain whole as is others are synthisized into phages. As the White blood cell is a liniage of Phage but not the only Phage.

We inherited our immune system from these little critters because they make up the very core of our immune system.
Animals have higher functions because of preset codes for building organs, For building blood cells and having a unified function for the body to be created and animated properly.

Beyond all that we are constantly picking up upgrades, and gaining symbiotic relationships with pathogens.
You see, Contagion is only one facet of being infected.
Contagion is what spreads it, Tho it is still a symbiotic relationship when there are great positive effects. Even if the negative is contagion phase. Sometimes there is only one or a couple contagion phases in a persons lifetime for pathogens that have a proper symbiotic relationship.

The body does grind away and alter the RNA it recieves from pathogens that alter cells. This grinding away makes appear that the pathogen has went into remission. But truth is that once you have a pathogen in your body it does not go away.
apoptosis usually controls the rate of expansion for infection. So once the immune system represses an infection, If adopted properly the new infection will be given apoptosis. Infection occures when there is clumping or damage from cells. If there is non of these occuring Scientists will assume that these *unknown* cells and phages roaming around have neutral function. When in fact they were inherited and assume the role of defenders.

Its a win win situation because the pathogens remain, You see. It is a higher form of evolution for cells to symbiotically attach and maintain a benificial effort for the host. Because in their destructive stage. Their numbers are demished quickly and it disallows continued existance. Only transmission to another host would give a chance for such pathogens to survive, But directly harmful pathogens that kill the host quickly would more likely rely on extreme infectability. A virus can change and lose these features from the gene pool it swaps during mass infections.

So symbiotic relationships are the most prominent because it assures microcellular survival.
Parasitic pathogens are just upgraded versions of these things, But usually more towards the bacteria side as viruses are strictly injectors, and bacteria are the result of formations, In of themselves create more formations of varying cellular types.

a reply to: AnuTyr

good post thank you for the input

I hate parasites!

Intestinal worms are the worst and ticks! Don't get me started.

And now, to think that these detestable vermin may be able to control my body and actions?

It boggles my mind and makes me feel sick.

ETA: Thanks, now my skin is crawling.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Just imagine if a four-dimensional parasite were controlling you from inside of yourself... there'd be no way to test for it or to exterminate it. It could reach inside of you and take control whenever it wanted, removing itself any time it needed to be discreet. Fun times.

originally posted by: Nechash
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Just imagine if a four-dimensional parasite were controlling you from inside of yourself... there'd be no way to test for it or to exterminate it. It could reach inside of you and take control whenever it wanted, removing itself any time it needed to be discreet. Fun times.

Sounds like demonic possession?
Didn't Christ cast out a legion of demons from a single person into a herd of goats that leapt from a cliff immediately afterwards?

a reply to: TinfoilTP

It could be that primitive people considered demonic possession to be the influence of an extra-dimensional being. Without a physical body, they'd probably be immortal, and without being bound to our 3d world, they would seem very powerful. If they were able to travel through time too, they could know things about distant times and places inexplicably.

Could be...

originally posted by: Nechash
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Just imagine if a four-dimensional parasite were controlling you from inside of yourself... there'd be no way to test for it or to exterminate it. It could reach inside of you and take control whenever it wanted, removing itself any time it needed to be discreet. Fun times.

yes makes me wonder if the all the hate in this world is being controlled by an external factor...or should i say internal

...not sure it holds much weight yet disturbing none the less

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Another cat poop theory. Why do I see different versions of the cat poop theory popping up?

Why does someone want us to fear cat poop!?

a reply to: WeAllDieSoon

maybe all the crazy cat women want us to fear their cats....