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Interesting Behaviour
Posted by sboverie
19th Mar 2012
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Behaviour & mcroorganisms
Posted by wizoddg
16th Aug
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-4
Votes
Voodoo sciene.
This blog is irresponsible and grasping. Shin, in quoting Webster, "may not want to cause any panic," but surely will to the detriment of felines and their owners. Those affected will exhibit sublte shifts in behavior? Who doesn't from morning to night and day to day? Sensationalist hogwash.
Posted by bistiboomer
19th Mar 2012
+5
Votes
It's only as sensationalist as you take it to be.
There's an awful lot of science in the above summary, in the original article and of course in the research itself. If you think it's hogwash, you'll have to back it up with more than a tossed-off dismissal.
Posted by andrew.nusca
19th Mar 2012
+2
Votes
Open mind receives knowledge
Agree w/ Andrew. Not sensationalist if it's true. It's not like a conspiracy theorist making wild associations where none exist.
Also see: http://www.radiolab.org/2009/sep/07/
Third story, "The Scratch" if you're focused. This article instantly made me recall this radio show from 2.5 years ago. /shudder
Also see: http://www.radiolab.org/2009/sep/07/
Third story, "The Scratch" if you're focused. This article instantly made me recall this radio show from 2.5 years ago. /shudder
Posted by Solenoid
20th Mar 2012
-1
Votes
the litter box parasite is not new research
oh pleaze....
all parasites and diseases will cause problems for their hosts in one way or another, and many of them are shared between animals and humans.
hell, our regular ingestion of food and sexual indiscretions causes problems like erratic behaviors, dual personalities, greed, depression, loss of smell, taste and common sense, etc, etc, etc,....
hell, the bacteria in ones mouth can cause an array of problems, especially when the saliva is ingested or passed on through kissing.
to focus on cats and one type of parasite resulting from litter boxes, is not really research, especially when this particular parasite has already been known by the medical profession for many years.
all parasites and diseases will cause problems for their hosts in one way or another, and many of them are shared between animals and humans.
hell, our regular ingestion of food and sexual indiscretions causes problems like erratic behaviors, dual personalities, greed, depression, loss of smell, taste and common sense, etc, etc, etc,....
hell, the bacteria in ones mouth can cause an array of problems, especially when the saliva is ingested or passed on through kissing.
to focus on cats and one type of parasite resulting from litter boxes, is not really research, especially when this particular parasite has already been known by the medical profession for many years.
Posted by databaseben
19th Mar 2012
+5
Votes
Interesting Behaviour
This interesting in that a parasite can cause changes in its host to do non survival actions. Most of these puppet master parasites seem to be found in insects like ants. I read about a sheep's blood fluke that infects ants and takes control of them by making them climb to the top of grass leaves and wait to get eaten by a sheep, where the blood fluke reproduces itself. Another parasite is a fungus that makes the ant climb a tree and bite down on a twig when the sun is the highest with the fungus breaking out of the ant's head and dropping spores onto the ground to be picked up by another ant.
Posted by sboverie
19th Mar 2012
+3
Votes
There are others
One I know of is a fungus that infects houseflies, making them (male or female) adopt a mating stance in death so that other flies will be coated in spores when they try to mate with the fungus-bloated corpse. I hate flies lol...
I also read an interesting theory that our evolution is partly governed by the action of viruses, which are capable of slicing off bits of DNA and carrying them to another species, where they insert them and change that species.
The theory held that, instead of the virus being a malicious thing that tried to hurt you (I've always wondered about that. Harming the host is not a good survival technique for a parasite.), instead it is trying to CHANGE you so that you can tolerate it, and your children can carry it without any ill effect.
DNA is simply a chemical, as are viruses. Tiny crystals... We all are at the whim of our chemical nature anyway, our moods are governed by the chemicals in our bloodstream and even something as simple as a cup of coffee could in theory mean the difference between being run over by a bus and a miraculous escape, so its no real surprise to me.
Its just the sheer scale, I had no idea that 2bn of us carried Toxo, or that it was as significant a disease as Malaria.
I also read an interesting theory that our evolution is partly governed by the action of viruses, which are capable of slicing off bits of DNA and carrying them to another species, where they insert them and change that species.
The theory held that, instead of the virus being a malicious thing that tried to hurt you (I've always wondered about that. Harming the host is not a good survival technique for a parasite.), instead it is trying to CHANGE you so that you can tolerate it, and your children can carry it without any ill effect.
DNA is simply a chemical, as are viruses. Tiny crystals... We all are at the whim of our chemical nature anyway, our moods are governed by the chemicals in our bloodstream and even something as simple as a cup of coffee could in theory mean the difference between being run over by a bus and a miraculous escape, so its no real surprise to me.
Its just the sheer scale, I had no idea that 2bn of us carried Toxo, or that it was as significant a disease as Malaria.
Posted by SiO2
Updated - 20th Mar 2012
+2
Votes
Inter Species Negotiation
There is a theory that bacteria and viruses are negotiating with the hosts. Some parasites are very aggressive and kill their hosts fast to return to the soil to infect the next host and increase its territory (this is anthrax). We all have a huge number of bacteria and viruses in our intestinal tracts that help us digest our food, E. Coli is one of the bacteria although not all E. Coli is beneficial, E. Coli poisoning comes from fecal contamination by other animals; this is a partial negotiation.
A real strange bit is something I read about a flea circus operator. It takes someone about 6 months or so to train fleas to do things like pull tiny carts and other acts in a flea circus. The weird part is that the life of a flea is just a few weeks but it takes 6 months to train the fleas. What I think is going on is a negotiation where the fleas are given food (the flea circus operator typically lets the fleas feed on their arm) and protection which is a big part of the survival needs for fleas. The fleas in turn are able to perform and make money for the operator.
A real strange bit is something I read about a flea circus operator. It takes someone about 6 months or so to train fleas to do things like pull tiny carts and other acts in a flea circus. The weird part is that the life of a flea is just a few weeks but it takes 6 months to train the fleas. What I think is going on is a negotiation where the fleas are given food (the flea circus operator typically lets the fleas feed on their arm) and protection which is a big part of the survival needs for fleas. The fleas in turn are able to perform and make money for the operator.
Posted by sboverie
20th Mar 2012
0
Votes
I-S-N
Someone MUST have written a Science Fiction story about that, by now!
Posted by FiOS-Dave
11th Apr 2012
-6
cats
Posted by pauc1
| Below your threshold
+2
Votes
cats
Another cat hater heard from! Ah hope yer dawg bahts yoo!
Posted by bootle1947
19th Mar 2012
+1
Vote
Not just cats...
What do we get from DOGS?
Posted by ka5s@...
19th Mar 2012
0
Votes
What we get from dogs
Unconditional love, slobbering, leg humping, Frisbie catchers, and unfortunately, Rabies.
Posted by FiOS-Dave
11th Apr 2012
+3
Votes
The Black Death
On of the contributing causes of the Black Death (Plague) in Europe during the 14th century was the common belief among Christians (Catholics) that cats were in league with the Devil. Cats were therefore not kept and the mouse population was allowed to expand. I wouldn't be too fast to deep six our cats now.
Posted by xrayangiodoc
19th Mar 2012
0
Votes
Bless our cat!
For the past nine years (since we adopted a kitty) our house has been devoid of flies, spiders, earwigs, and other crawly things that my aging eyes can no longer see.
Posted by FiOS-Dave
11th Apr 2012
0
Votes
toxo (the nikname)
Another weak article; how about discussing the ways of diagnosis, are they cheap, would a Dr. Rx it for folks like us. Meow?
Posted by affordablecomputerguy@...
19th Mar 2012
+1
Vote
Interesting and balanced
I aim to learn something new and significant every day and this story really gripped me. But I hope that if it goes (excuse the pun) viral, it doesn't lead to a cat massacre.
Posted by Shadeburst
20th Mar 2012
+2
Votes
Cat Massacre
That would be a cat astrophe...Sorry, I just couldn't help it
(and, no, the cat didn't get my tongue)
(and, no, the cat didn't get my tongue)
Posted by FiOS-Dave
11th Apr 2012
-2
Votes
Toxo indication in schizophrenia and other conditions.
Nuts. I have handled and rescued cats for many years. I currently feed 5 house cats plus 3 that remain too feral for me to bring in (they were trapped, vaccinated, sterilized and dewormed but had to be released due to howling and terrifying little children). Nobody has more money invested in cats, dogs, unwanted animals of all sorts than I do without going non-profit. I have emptied thousands or maybe even hundreds of thousands of pounds of cat litter. I have been bit, clawed, salivated on reguarly. I may or may not have toxo. I was crazy about animals long before anybody was concerned with toxo but did know to wash my hands throughly after handling dirty materials of all sorts. If I had developed a personality defect my family would have immediately alerted me to this fact. So far, their chief complaint is that I don't make peach cobbler often enough. I realize that one case of non issue with toxo does not reverse an entire study but I would like to point out that no other scientists are working on proving or refuting this version of science. Until then I am a disbeliever.
Posted by IMWeira
20th Mar 2012
+1
Vote
Spoken like a true Luddite.
"I would like to point out that no other scientists are working on proving or refuting this version of science." is the weakest argument for refutation I can imagine. Nearly every discovery you can name was made because no one else (scientist or otherwise) thought to examine a particular phenomenon. Facts tend to trump opinion and wishful thinking.
Posted by decryobliviots
20th Mar 2012
0
Votes
Peach Cobbler Disease
Yes, you have been infected! The proof is in the reseaerch being done at the Duncan Hines Institute for Cobblerites, although another fine institution denounces their results, saying "It's a Crocker..."
Posted by FiOS-Dave
11th Apr 2012
0
Votes
Is this the long sought after link...
Is this the long sought after missing link between Women and Cats? The reason(s) that they are so similar in that we identify women with cats and men with dogs?
Posted by josephhyde@...
20th Mar 2012
0
Votes
cats
Read the article, it states that there is only a short period when while the cat is young when this spreads. I wonder if a course of anti-biotics would have any effect? Also, the anti-psychotics, did that work as an anti-biotic in the petri dish? Would that have any hope of a medicine that had less side effects because it wouldn't seek to modify behavior?
Posted by garyfizer@...
21st Mar 2012
-1
Votes
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2nd Apr 2012
-1
Votes
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Posted by linzhanap
2nd Apr 2012
0
Votes
Behaviour & mcroorganisms
Increasingly, we find that the microorganisms which inhabit and in fact make up the bulk of most 'complex' organisms exert far more control over our behavior than we previously realized...from our food selections to our mate selections.
Given the wide range of organisms and possible reactions identifying any particular behavior to a particular organism may or may not be possible--and there will be interactions between such organisms.
Reductionist science (holding all but one variable stationary,) has distinct limits in investigating the universe--there are far more actions which are the result of multiple variables than there are that result from single variables.
Computer simulations are beginning to make it possible to investigate the huge multiple of interactions involved in any natural process--and are, in fact, probably the only way to reasonably investigate them at this time.
Humans prefer simple answers, but many events have no single answer, much less a single simple answer
The simplest answer is to pass everything off as 'fate' or 'God's Will,' both of which translate directly to 'I don't know.'
The scientific method is not magic. It's not even complicated.
It consists of doing things, observing what happens, formulating a predictive formula and testing to see if that formula is accurate. It is no more, nor less complex than determining the proper temperature to hard-cook an egg by making many of them at slightly different temperatures and deciding which are 'best' under whatever criteria you judge them.
But as the number of variables increase, so do the number of tests. The 'right' temperature for a freshly laid chicken egg may not be the correct temperature for a 2 week old egg, or a duck or other species egg, air pressure and composition might play a part as could any other element of the environment. Testing for each of these and their combinations rapidly becomes too complex to determine experimentally by changing only one variable at a time, and requires the development of valid rules which determine how substances react under different conditions.
Not only do different microorganisms behave differently, but they behave differently when associated with other microorganisms. Or in small numbers. Or in large numbers. Or in the blood rather than the gut....and many many other variations.
Given the wide range of organisms and possible reactions identifying any particular behavior to a particular organism may or may not be possible--and there will be interactions between such organisms.
Reductionist science (holding all but one variable stationary,) has distinct limits in investigating the universe--there are far more actions which are the result of multiple variables than there are that result from single variables.
Computer simulations are beginning to make it possible to investigate the huge multiple of interactions involved in any natural process--and are, in fact, probably the only way to reasonably investigate them at this time.
Humans prefer simple answers, but many events have no single answer, much less a single simple answer
The simplest answer is to pass everything off as 'fate' or 'God's Will,' both of which translate directly to 'I don't know.'
The scientific method is not magic. It's not even complicated.
It consists of doing things, observing what happens, formulating a predictive formula and testing to see if that formula is accurate. It is no more, nor less complex than determining the proper temperature to hard-cook an egg by making many of them at slightly different temperatures and deciding which are 'best' under whatever criteria you judge them.
But as the number of variables increase, so do the number of tests. The 'right' temperature for a freshly laid chicken egg may not be the correct temperature for a 2 week old egg, or a duck or other species egg, air pressure and composition might play a part as could any other element of the environment. Testing for each of these and their combinations rapidly becomes too complex to determine experimentally by changing only one variable at a time, and requires the development of valid rules which determine how substances react under different conditions.
Not only do different microorganisms behave differently, but they behave differently when associated with other microorganisms. Or in small numbers. Or in large numbers. Or in the blood rather than the gut....and many many other variations.
Posted by wizoddg
16th Aug