Ant hills

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Wow! Thank you for the fastenating scary movie plot of the insect world. When we left the ranch in 2020 the flies were doing a pretty good job and reproducing more of themselves quickly,.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Wow! Thank you for the fastenating scary movie plot of the insect world. When we left the ranch in 2020 the flies were doing a pretty good job and reproducing more of themselves quickly as fly larvae took over their behavior.

Did you nkow that the toxoplasmosis parasite of cats can infect the brains of pregnant women that clean cat boxes and control their behavior?

How a Cat-Borne Parasite Infects Humans

Scientists have a new theory to explain the brain-controlling parasite.

BYPATRICK WALTERSFOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
PUBLISHED JANUARY 22, 2013

Over the past year, a Czech evolutionary biologist named Jaroslav Flegr has made headlines for a radical claim: that a common parasite called Toxoplasma gondii is controlling our brains.
"Toxo," which typically infects cats, is famous among scientists for its clever tactic of jumping from one cat to another by infecting rats and altering their behavior to make them more likely to be eaten by another cat, thus transferring the parasite to a new host.
Flegr discovered that the behaviors that toxo provokes in rats in order to get them eaten—slowed reaction times, lethargy, reduction in fear—also show up in infected humans. But until very recently, scientists knew little about how toxo might be doing this. (Watch: Secret lives of house cats revealed.)
Two months ago, a team of Swedish scientists uncovered a key piece of the puzzle. In order to travel throughout the body and, most importantly, to the brain, toxo hijacks the very cells designed to destroy foreign invaders: the white blood cells. And not only does the parasite ride those cells like a city bus, but it also turns them into tiny chemical factories, producing a neurotransmitter known to reduce fear and anxiety in rats—and in humans. (Explore the human body.)
Even though toxo most often lives in cats, it infects millions of humans, jumping to us via contact with litter boxes, contaminated water, or undercooked meat. For most people, the parasite causes no obvious problems. Pregnant women must be careful, though; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that women infected during pregnancy face increased risk of miscarriage or birth defects.
What's Toxo Doing to Me?
In 1990, Flegr happened to find out he had toxo himself—a colleague who studied the parasite had developed a new diagnostic test and decided to try it out on Flegr. The news that he carried the parasite gave him an idea. He knew the parasite reduced fear in rats so they'd be more likely to get eaten by cats. And he'd also recently noticed a certain lack of fear in himself. "I would cross the street in traffic and not jump when the cars honked," he said. He wondered: Could the toxo be responsible?

Over the next 15 years, using experimentation and analysis of public health data, Flegr discovered a series of fascinating links between toxo and human behavior. A toxo-infected person is more than twice as likely to be in a car accident—which Flegr attributes to the parasite's tendency to reduce reaction time—and has a higher than normal risk of developing schizophrenia. Other scientists have shown a connection between toxo and an increased risk of suicide.

more at

How a Cat-Borne Parasite Infects Humans

A common parasite can make humans less fearful and slow to react. Now scientists think they know how it happens.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[greybeard]

I see Robocop or super warrior/Terminator with Taxo coming...fearless and more than willing to take more risks...

 

[Lucky_P]

Brother of one of my former neighbors is one of the leading experts/researchers on fire ants (JT Vogt). Some years ago, we were discussing crazy 'far aint' remedies, and he sent this list of inventions folks have come up with:

"Re: fire ants...here are a few samples of weird control methods I've managed to gather over time (actual products):

Ant E-Vacuator (vacuum device with an impellor to crush the ants as they pass through it)
Yaardvark (electric shock device)
McCoy Ant Stomper (windmill driven device to disturb the mound and crush the ants with a roller)
Grits (the uninformed don't realize that worker ants don't eat solid food, thus they won't blow up if you put grits on the mound)
The "Solar Ant Charmer" (look it up on the internet, they'll send you a free video)
Various explosive devices
The "Queen Stomper" (kind of like a 5-footed cane you smush down into the mound)
Injectors (forget the names)
Gas (of course)--the kicker is I have a couple news articles about people burning the porches off their houses trying this
Various other mechanical devices"

Re: Toxo and other 'brain parasites'... here's an article that I always used to assign for my Parasitology students to read... https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/9/ad-0809_article