
How does a parasite create zombie-like behavior? - dluan
https://experiment.com/projects/how-does-a-parasite-create-zombie-like-behavior/results
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crispy2000
This is how it starts: "I became fascinated by fungi when I was a student, and
so I decided to do a PhD in fungal genetics. By the end of my PhD I learned
through watching BBC’s Planet Earth that certain fungi are able to manipulate
insect behavior followed by the growth of beautiful fruiting bodies, leaving
behind a rather morbid piece of natural art. The concept of a microbe being
able to manipulate an animal’s brain just blew my mind. Ever since, I’ve been
working to make the “zombie ants” a model system to study the concept of
parasitic behavioral manipulation in detail."

She's patient zero.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I figured she was going to become a supervillain.

But maybe I've just been watching too much Venture Brothers.

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hellbanner
If you want to lose sleep: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-
LWyNcAs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs)

"The caterpillar, instead of building its cocoon to guard itself at night,
wraps it around the larval wasps (which previously tore their way out of its
body), and will continue to defend them until it starves to death.

The biggest danger for these parasitic wasps is being injected with another
species of parasitic wasp".

EDIT: Wow, what a cool site - crowdfunding experiments!

~~~
kfk
Man I want to un-see that! What a horrible way to go

~~~
pvaldes
Free pest control; more cabbages for us.

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mizzao
Did anyone notice the rest of the site?

It seems surprising that this entire project was done with $4,500 of
crowdfunding. That seems very cheap. I wonder how much of the project funding
came from elsewhere.

[https://experiment.com/projects/how-does-a-parasite-
create-z...](https://experiment.com/projects/how-does-a-parasite-create-
zombie-like-behavior/results#supported_by)

~~~
rflrob
Depends on how you count. A quick scan of the paper and my fairly fresh
knowledge of academic sequencing prices suggests you could do the sequencing
for around $3k, with reagents (assuming you don't count the cost of unused
reagents). Add in airfare, room, and board to collect the ants and fungus and
you're there.

Not included: equipment, lab space, stipend (figure 6 months of one grad
student, which is astonishingly fast, and that's already $12-15k), and
tuition. If you were proposing the same thing to a funding agency like the NIH
or NSF, you're looking at ~$60-100k, which still doesn't include a lot of the
equipment. I would guess this project was pitched to crowdfunders as "I'm
doing all these other experiments, but would also like to do sequencing".

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fauria
The Leucochloridium paradoxum infects snails, making their eyes look like
caterpillars, catching birds attention and thus spreading through them.

More info:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucochloridium_paradoxum](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucochloridium_paradoxum)

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

~~~
DonaldFisk
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-...](http://www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-
permanently-1.13777)

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
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
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
It should be noted that Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model has been
greatly criticized by many researchers because of the inability of replication

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wattengard
Isn't this the fungus that's the inspration for the Last of Us videogame?

~~~
neonbat
The fungus in her abstract is a type of cordyceps.

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Angostura
I haven't come across this crowdfunding platform for research before and I
absolutely love it. I suspect quite a few of my pennies will be going here.

~~~
mtrpcic
It was formerly known as Microryza, but changed name about 2 years ago to
better reflect the broader scope of their goal. My former roommate used to
work for them, very cool project.

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ignoramous
Another very well presented albiet brief introduction on this topic is this Ed
Yong TED Talk
[https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roac...](https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roaches_and_other_tales_of_parasites?language=en)

~~~
cfontes
That talks is awesome thanks for it

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ericjang
Scientific content aside, I really think the web is a far superior medium for
delivering technical papers. It allows for videos and interactive data
exploration. I wish more scientists would publish this way.

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tempodox
+1. Fascinating topic, very nicely presented.

I didn't know this platform exists.

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univalent
Somewhat related. "The girl with all the gifts", which is on this subject was
a great read. Emotional, thought provoking in a sea of horrible zombie related
writing/TV.

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pavel_lishin
Charlie Stross asked about interesting parasites on his blog, recently - the
comments section may be relevant, and of interest:
[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2015/11/a-small-...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2015/11/a-small-research-question.html)

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calinet6
This is a beautiful way to present scientific study, much more so than
traditional methods! I'd love to see this trend of clarity and storytelling
continue for more studies and experimental efforts.

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spoiler
tl;dr ant escapes. Bites human. So it begins; the end.

P.S: It's just a joke!

~~~
neonbat
did you play the last of us? don't joke about this stuff man.

