Parasites brainwash grasshoppers into death dive

[eub]

Parasites brainwash grasshoppers into death dive

A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects’ proteins reveal.

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.
[...]
Now Biron and his colleagues have shown that the worm brainwashes the grasshopper by producing proteins which directly and indirectly affect the grasshopper’s central nervous system.

Explicit video and mellilfluous conversation in the language of love here.

Comments

[eub.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but nah, I'll wait until the proteins can be deciphered.