11–20 of 49 posts
Come on. This is not HN material. What's next? Lolcats?
Unfortunately, this is (1) old news; and (2) especially prone to obvious, knee-jerk LOLcats jokes -- there were already three before your comment. So I have mixed feelings about its topicality.
Come on. This is not HN material. What's next? Lolcats?
http://workforce.cup.edu/Buckelew/dicrocoelium_dendriticum_i...
This parasite is indeed real and widespread, and the reason you don't notice its effects in others is because its effects are rather minor, resulting from small brain infections and increased dopamine at certain sites (I had no luck pinpointing the location of these, unfortunately). The most agreed-upon effect appears to be that the parasite results in decreased neophilia. What a sensationalist story like this one wi…
Increased incidence of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected military drivers and protective effect RhD molecule revealed by a large-scale prospective cohort study.
Look here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/9/72
Courtesy of the hard science sub-reddit.
For those with too little time to read the actual paper, here's the results summary:
We confirmed, using for the first time a prospective cohort study design, increased risk of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected subjects and demonstrated a strong protective effect of RhD positivity against the risk of traffic accidents posed by latent toxoplasmosis. Our results show that RhD-negative subjects with high titers of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies had a probability of a traffic accident of about 16.7%, i.e. a more than six times higher rate than Toxoplasma-free or RhD-positive subjects.
Come on. This is not HN material. What's next? Lolcats?
I find new discoveries about incurable diseases which change human personalities on the scale of individuals and whole societies very HN-worthy, by the same standard as other science/medical discoveries. Unfortunately, this is (1) old news; and (2) especially prone to obvious, knee-jerk LOLcats jokes -- there were already three before your comment. So I have mixed feelings about its topicality.
The danger of demonizing bad jokes is that eventually, nobody will make any jokes at all; they can't all be funny. Then we're just a bunch of annoyingly high-strung geeks being Very Serious about matters which have absolutely no relevance.
This parasite is indeed real and widespread, and the reason you don't notice its effects in others is because its effects are rather minor, resulting from small brain infections and increased dopamine at certain sites (I had no luck pinpointing the location of these, unfortunately). The most agreed-upon effect appears to be that the parasite results in decreased neophilia. What a sensationalist story like this one wi…
This is old news and fluff. For a less fluffy article: Increased incidence of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected military drivers and protective effect RhD molecule revealed by a large-scale prospective cohort study. Look here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/9/72 Courtesy of the hard science sub-reddit. For those with too little time to read the actual paper, here's the results summary: We confirmed, us…
Come on. This is not HN material. What's next? Lolcats?
I find new discoveries about incurable diseases which change human personalities on the scale of individuals and whole societies very HN-worthy, by the same standard as other science/medical discoveries. Unfortunately, this is (1) old news; and (2) especially prone to obvious, knee-jerk LOLcats jokes -- there were already three before your comment. So I have mixed feelings about its topicality.
Toxoplasmosis' only agreed upon (and still alleged) effect is a decrease in neophilia, which is linked to monoamine oxidase A a product of the so called 'warrior gene' that is far more prevalent in society than toxoplasmosis infections (33% genetic prevalence amongst European whites IIRC and ~60% in Asian/Pacific Islanders).
Oh and BTW toxoplasmosis is easily curable, it's regularly cured in humans and in animals that carry it used for food production (Pigs, Sheep and farmed Deers). The reason doctors don't treat it, is because you're safer to have latent toxoplasmosis than none at all, not only can it lead to miscarriages in women, but the chance of encephalitis increases with decreased immune function. So if you get toxoplasmosis when you're healthy, like most people, you'll be fine, but if doctors go around curing it you'll get reinfected and seriously increase your risk for death.
Ironically the mild production of Monoamine Oxidase A is known for a decrease in danger-seeking behaviour, but extreme production (witnessed in people with the Warrior Gene) is known for an increase in danger-seeking behaviour. Toxoplasmosis apparently acts like the warrior gene for mice, but will in fact likely prolong the life of a human infected with latent toxoplasmosis.
Come on. This is not HN material. What's next? Lolcats?