Is your boss easily distracted? Impulsive? With a diminishing IQ? It’s possible the he/she might be hosting the mind-altering parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Attention is drawn to this possibility in the latest online issue of the journal Academy of Management Perspectives. An investigation by Petr Houdek, [pictured right] who is a director at the CEBEX experimental […]
Tag: parasite
An effect of croquet on predator/parasite author order
Scientists sometimes find clever ways to decide contentious questions. Witness the method mentioned in this paper: “Aggregation of predators and insect parasites and its effect on stability,” M.P. Hassell and Robert M. May, Journal of Animal Ecology, 1974, pp. 567-594. (Thanks to investigator Betsy Devine for bringing this to our attention.) In the 1974 predators/parasites paper, […]
Fly flee? No, Fly medicate, parentally.
Flies, parasites, parent-child relations, and fly-administered drugs all figure into this study: “Fruit Flies Medicate Offspring After Seeing Parasites,” Balin Z. Kacsoh, Zachary R. Lynch, Nathan T. Mortimer, Todd A. Schlenke, Science, vol. 339, no. 6122, February 22, 2013, pp. 947-950. The authors, at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, explain: “Here we describe a behavioral immune […]
“Better chance… if an Inuit or a Mayan spits on it?”
A Canadian study, long overlooked, asks “Does a parasite have a better chance of survival if an Inuit or a Mayan spits on it?” Author Ed Shields sent us a copy accompanied by a note saying “Years ago, I chose its provocative title as an attempt to awaken folks to the potential immunochemical importance of salivary […]