Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

There's a Futurama episode that anticipated this. Fry eats an egg salad sandwich from a truck stop restroom vending machine and acquires a parasitic worm infection that gives him super powers.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#7

Post by iamcurious » Thu, May 20, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #3

Plot twist. What if wealthy humans are infected with these?

Interesting. If that were true, you would see a sudden youthfulness in CEOs, like regaining lost hair.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#8

Post by iamcurious » Thu, May 20, 2021, 6:39 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #5

Have they tried introducing these worms into drosophila or even mice? I’d be curious what the effect would be. Also what effect does it have in the birds that carry it?

On the first question, my guess is that it activates queen like behavior on a default ant. So it's not actually giving it powers beyond its species, just reconfiguring the particular setup.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#9

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Thu, May 20, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #3

Plot twist. What if wealthy humans are infected with these?

Like "meths," from Altered Carbon?

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#10

Post by djrogers » Thu, May 20, 2021, 6:49 PM UTC

iamcurious wrote: post #7

mrfusion wrote: post #3

Plot twist. What if wealthy humans are infected with these?

Interesting. If that were true, you would see a sudden youthfulness in CEOs, like regaining lost hair.

But they will be basically stoned, and won't care about working anymore, so they'll be ex-CEOs.