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Scientists Discover a Virus That Changes the Brain To "Make Humans More Stupid"
concertina226 writes that researchers have found a virus that appears to reduce people’s thinking power and attention span. "Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and the University of Nebraska have discovered an algae virus that makes us more stupid by infecting our brains. The researchers were conducting a completely unrelated study into throat microbes when they realized that DNA in the throats of healthy people matched the DNA of a chlorovirus virus known as ATCV-1. ATCV-1 is a virus that infects the green algae found in freshwater lakes and ponds. It had previously been thought to be non-infectious to humans, but the scientists found that it actually affects cognitive functions in the brain by shortening attention span and causing a decrease in spatial awareness. For the first time ever, the researchers proved that microorganisms have the ability to trigger delicate physiological changes to the human body, without launching a full-blown attack on the human immune system."
Fox News
Read this last week on other outlets. Anyway, this would explain the behavior of some of my peers and acquaintances. Makes sense.
How do we fix it?!
Change the payload to make it make us smarter, or cure diseases of the brain. Similar to what they've done with HIV.
That is an insult to Pond Scum everywhere.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
For the first time ever, the researchers proved that microorganisms have the ability to trigger delicate physiological changes to the human body, without launching a full-blown attack on the human immune system.
The first? What about Toxoplasma gondii ?
Ezekiel 23:20
http://www.pnas.org/content/ea...
It explains that they measured the cognitive differences between infected and non-infected people, and how, which wasn't addressed in the clickbait summary.
Those lakes and ponds are in the southern US of A?
I'm not able to function mentally at 100% any time I'm infected with a cold virus. We all know this: it's miserable having a cold. The good news is, when your immune system fights it off you're back to normal (more or less) after a week. Are they saying the effects of this ATCV-1 virus are permanent?
You are all infected!
E.religioni
Damn you... beat me to it :)
It looks like stupidity may be contagious after all.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
this explains why I need to stay in my hazmat bubble.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
The BBC is way, way above the scum depth of Fox News. CNN...well, I'll give you that one.
I think you can catch it from facebook.
Actually, with the coming American holiday season, this is just in time. We finally have a reason to be Thankful the western drought...
Yesterday I went swimming in a pond but now I can't fin.. Oh look, a tweet.
This is not the sig you're looking for.
Maybe those conspiracy theorists were on to something after all?
Sig?
... it must be something in the water.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
did they infect this time?
always knew water was out to get me, now i've got proof.
Is this a sign that the Hinamizawa syndrome can actually exist?
"toxo is a problem 50% of humans have it, and 75% of cat owners" Um, no.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
November 10, 2034. Twenty years after "Dumb and Dumber To", geriatric comedians Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their iconic roles from 2014 in "Dumb and Dumber 4". This third installment of the "Dumb and Dumber" franchise brings an interesting sci-fi twist to an otherwise tired premise. The boys stumble (or should we say "toddle"?) into a certain Professor Peabody's lab, and their brains accidentally get infected with an algae virus that Peabody and his pal Sherman have been cooking up, making our heroes - can you believe it? - even dumber. Not even Peabody himself can save the boys from the madcap misadventures that ensue! To heighten the movie experience, select theaters will offer an algae sprinkle free with each purchase of popcorn. Fun for the whole family!
Once again we prove everything has a physical cause. And remember, judge not!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
is there also a virus that boosts brain power? :D
If not, they should go find one.
...said virus was found to thrive in the american political system, notably congress.
Seriously, this being slashdot everyone is going to use an article like this to insult anyone who disagrees with them and make stupid jokes about politicians, CEOs, various religious groups etc. Don't waste your time here.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
.. I'm distracted
I'm assuming women and white democrats are 100% infected with this.
A typical assumption by the infected.
FTFY
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
The full text is available here (PDF).
The study is more solid than I expected. I expected to post that this study ignored the factor that intelligence correlates with immune system functioning, as almost all studies ignore these things (e.g, there's a bunch of studies going "low amount of social connections lead to increase in death rates, primarily from increases in infections", where human attraction is strongly correlated with a strong immune system.) However, this use a mouse model to show that cause/effect - and the viruses are clearly a possible cause, due to using mouse models to verify. They used force feeding to get this into the mice, and they used a control group which was also force fed. The only potential procedural problem I see here is lack of blinding - blinding at least isn't mentioned. Since this is a quite significant and unexpected result, I would have liked to have full blinding on the test, rather than having the possibility of unintended researcher influence. Unintended influence has been seen in e.g. homeopathy studies, where homeopathy works on horses if the person administering knows that this is supposed to work, but not under double blinding.
Has anyone thought of submitting 8chan/gg for testing?
I'm pretty sure we have a hotspot developing over there.
You are welcome on my lawn.
The Internet, Reality TV, and Sports/Hollywood worship....
"found that it actually affects cognitive functions in the brain by shortening attention span" ... in Americans. So the real story is that they discovered negative attention sp
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
doesnt this just show that people who swim in algae infested lakes are just a little dumber than the rest of us?
They're dumb because they live in a swamp?
Funny how thihttp://science.slashdot.org/story/14/11/10/1240204/scientists-discover-a-virus-that-changes-the-brain-to-make-humans-more-stupid#s virus is rampant in the Bible Belt
CNN is actually the most trusted news source in the nation on the whole (both sides), though when it comes to party lines Fox is favored heavily on the right, and the left trusts a mix. (basically the study found that liberals trust a variety of sources as long as they can be backed up and verified, ie facts mattered more than source; meanwhile conservatives trusted Fox and no one else, period)
CNN is also repeatedly found to be very unbiased source in the nation, second only to BBC and Al Jeezera (spelling) both of which dont get much play in the states.
Now...part of the CNN's appeal and success undoubtedly has to do with actually saying very little, but asking a lot of questions, such as "where is the airplane" and "will you die of ebola".... :P
And in other news, the virus purportedly renders people unable to think rationally about epidemiology. Scientists are baffled as to why a virus would do such a thing, although they professed a mysterious urge to share bodily fluids with those around them and denounce as "sciencephobic" those who shunned their advances.
Seastead this.
naturally
and the Supreme Court chambers.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
A.G. Riddle wrote a pretty good story based on a similar premise - gene-affecting viruses that modify our intellectual capabilities.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Atla...
You stereotypers are all the same...
This stuff has great potential. Big corporations are rushing to corner the market. Scientists are trying to make it more effective....
Could this be how it starts?
They don't want brains to eat, just to augment their depreciated functionality... like asking for water.
And all their viewers/fans have it. Wait that'll include Kanye West too! Egads they're everywhere!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
...all the tricked out all wheel pickup trucks with tricked out suspension and a Confederate flag in the back window tooling around the lake.
That is incorrect. Get some actual information.
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/t...
And cats might be the path way to a cure from AIDS(HIV)
http://www.medicalnewstoday.co...
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
TL;DR
Check the Washinton, DC water system, especially the pipes around the Capital.
Was my old bandmate stupid as a log from to try to live off of Blue-green algae, or did the algae make him so stupid he believed the "patent medicine" claims given it? Frankly, I don't need anything that can cure "sluggish heart" , impotence, and "reluctant liver", plus cancer, baldness, emphysema, rash, zits, high blood pressure , low blood pressure, no blood pressure, etc etc. Good old Dr Foster's "Genuine Turkish tincture" can do that real good, already. Great for the "vapors", too ;-)
...football and baseball???