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A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

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Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#31

Post by js2 »

samatman wrote: post #8
bambax wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I read this but it still needs some explanation. I can maybe understand that the infected insect still wants to mate even without genitalia, but why do the sane ones fall for it? I guess I need to learn more about cicada mating habits.

Consent to mate is in fact fairly distinctive to human beings. It's certainly not a concept which applies to insects such as cicadas, which just jump on each other and do the business.

> Consent to mate is in fact fairly distinctive to human beings.

What? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtship_display

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#32

Post by vmception »

rasz wrote: post #26
vmception wrote: post #9

Sometimes I feel like we are sharing the world with fungus. As in, fungus consciously doesn't generate spores on us because it figured out that we will just grow it and put it in drinks and spread it any way. So using our mental processing power just let fungus realize it didn't have to try to use all its energy on the host capture and spore release routine. And of course, the observation that it has nothing to do wi…

bacteria instead of fungus, but similar premise: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/10/02/when-the-yogurt-took-...

bizarre and brilliant!

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#33

Post by thaumasiotes »

samatman wrote: post #8
bambax wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I read this but it still needs some explanation. I can maybe understand that the infected insect still wants to mate even without genitalia, but why do the sane ones fall for it? I guess I need to learn more about cicada mating habits.

Consent to mate is in fact fairly distinctive to human beings. It's certainly not a concept which applies to insects such as cicadas, which just jump on each other and do the business.

Other mating models:

- Millipedes generally work on a model where males leave packets of sperm on the ground and females find them and pick them up. Mating does not take place.

- Fish may just release sperm / unfertilized eggs into the ocean and hope they find each other.

- Some mayflies have just four legs, the first pair having developed into "arms" whose only use is restraining a struggling female.

- Male anglerfish drift around until they find a (much larger) female, at which point they burrow into her skin, attach permanently, and live as a parasite that occasionally releases sperm.

Cicadas may not worry about consent, but insects and other crawly things in general do, as you can tell by the fact that they put on mating displays.

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#34

Post by kadoban »

_tom_ wrote: post #25

The real question is “how many types of parasites ALREADY modify human behavior”. We know toxoplasmosis does it, but how many have we not yet detected?

We know our gut biome in general has a huge effect on our behavior as well (most obviously around food choices), though I don't think those are technically "parasites".

Less interesting but still worth noting, many infections cause us to sneeze and cough in ways that increase the spread of the infection to others. Ain't evolution grand.

Another one, I remember that late stage Syphilis in at least some cases causes sexual promiscuity.

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#35

Post by everdrive »

_tom_ wrote: post #25

The real question is “how many types of parasites ALREADY modify human behavior”. We know toxoplasmosis does it, but how many have we not yet detected?

With toxoplasmosis in particular, people cite that old study over and over. I always wonder to what degree that's been replicated, or to what degree the study's claims have been exaggerated because of their controversial nature.

Please bear in mind, I have no particular expertise about this issue, and so it's possible that my doubts here are not well founded.

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#36

Post by zeta0134 »

ignoramous wrote: post #23

Reminds me of this NatGeo Hostile Planet video on Cordyceps, a fungi that infects ants [0] It drugs the ant, takes control of its muscles, and forces it to climb up to a spot where there's just enough sunlight and humidity for the fungi to grow some more. 3 weeks in, the ant is all but a breeding ground of Cordyceps ready to unleash on other ants, with enough reach to wipe out entire ant colonies. Here's the kicker,…

Indeed, this is the central plot point driving the narrative in The Last of Us. [0]

https://thelastofus.fandom.com/wiki/Cordyceps_Brain_Infectio...

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#37

Post by berberous »

rvbissell wrote: post #11
vmception wrote: post #9

Sometimes I feel like we are sharing the world with fungus. As in, fungus consciously doesn't generate spores on us because it figured out that we will just grow it and put it in drinks and spread it any way. So using our mental processing power just let fungus realize it didn't have to try to use all its energy on the host capture and spore release routine. And of course, the observation that it has nothing to do wi…

Some podcast -- RadioLab I think -- did an episode on how climate change (specifically, warming) has been putting selective pressure on fungi to make them hardier towards infecting warm-blooded animals... at the very same time that the average human body temperature has been trending down. Not a good thing.

It was RadioLab and it was probably the scariest thing I’ve heard about global warming yet.

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#38

Post by sandworm101 »

ignoramous wrote: post #23

Reminds me of this NatGeo Hostile Planet video on Cordyceps, a fungi that infects ants [0] It drugs the ant, takes control of its muscles, and forces it to climb up to a spot where there's just enough sunlight and humidity for the fungi to grow some more. 3 weeks in, the ant is all but a breeding ground of Cordyceps ready to unleash on other ants, with enough reach to wipe out entire ant colonies. Here's the kicker,…

They grow in animals, insects, with 'open' circulatory systems. Something that large growing in our 'closed' circulatory system (blood vessels/tubes) would quickly kill us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulatory_system#Open_circul...

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#39

Post by bdamm »

neom wrote: post #29
GauntletWizard wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Psilocybin is the active ingredient (a psychedelic prodrug, or drug precursor that's metabolized into a drug) in Magic Mushrooms. The fungus generates psilocybin and sheds it into the cicada, causing them to become hypersexual.

I wonder how the fungus knew how to make psilocybin, and that psilocybin was the right thing to make? Nature is pretty intense.

Presumably this is an outcome of selective breeding. The symbiotic interaction results in more offspring for both species. The invisible hand of mother gaia "knows".

Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive

#40

Post by bdamm »

chrisco255 wrote: post #12

And this is why I don't do shrooms.

Right. Eating shrooms might fix your brain, and enslave you to think about forests and shrooms with some affection for the rest of your life. It is a tragic outcome for those who prefer to be isolated from nature.
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