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Parasites That Can Control Insect Minds

Ant writes to tell us that NewScientist is running an article about an interesting parasite that apparently has the power to 'brainwash' its host. From the article: "The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. Somehow mature hairworms brainwash their hosts into behaving in way they never usually would - causing them to seek out and plunge into water."

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  1. Re:Why the article? by jimktrains · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sometime the mechinsim is not the important part; just the discovery. What if Newton didn't publish gravity because he didn't understant the mechignism by which it works?

    --
    "You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm." - S. G. Colette