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."

Comments

Re:Something like this is happening in the US now.

[Kujila]

Oh this was supposed to be a political joke. lawl.

Re:There is also a jungle fungus that does this

[Dr. Cody]

As someone who lives in a dorm full of Cameroonians, I can say it's not the best reason...