CordyceptZombie Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I have recently become obsessed with the idea that a fungus can take control of an insect's brain and make it do "what the fungus wants" virtually taking it's free will away in order to propagate it's own species. Is it possible that this could have happened to mammals or even humans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeskill Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I have recently become obsessed with the idea that a fungus can take control of an insect's brain and make it do "what the fungus wants" virtually taking it's free will away in order to propagate it's own species. Is it possible that this could have happened to mammals or even humans? Mind Control by Parasites ... Toxoplasma gondii is not a fungus, but it is a parasite and it does change rat behaviour. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CordyceptZombie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 How interesting!!! And it says that humans are infected with this parasite as well... perhaps even linking it to madness? I just watched a show that explained how Voodoo priests would "kill, reanimate, and mind control" their victims with a toxin found in puffer fish. It would seem nature beat Hollywood and Voodoo to the punch through evolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaoRich Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 How interesting!!! And it says that humans are infected with this parasite as well... perhaps even linking it to madness? http://en.wikipedia....mitri_Tsafendas Dimitri Tsafendas assassinated the "Architect of Apartheid", South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd on 6 September 1966. Tsafendas, working as a parliamentary messenger, stabbed Verwoerd with a dagger during a parliamentary session. At his trial, Judge Andries Beyers declared Tsafendas not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. He had been diagnosed as being schizophrenic and it was claimed by police that he had said that he had a giant tapeworm inside him, which spoke to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CordyceptZombie Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 http://en.wikipedia....mitri_Tsafendas Haha... tapeworm zombie. That's an interesting defense. Notice my interest in these matters. This might be tongue and cheek to some but I find this subject fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaoRich Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Okay ... a more serious answer this time from me: Fungi are fascinating ... they are more closely related to animals than to plants. They breathe Oxygen, emit Carbon-DiOxide, and digest food with an (effectively) external "stomach". They have been around since before the Dinosaurs, and survived through the extinction period - unlike plants which need sunlight, they only need a tiny amount of radiant energy which they were able to absorb through the "ash canopy" which hung over the earth for 1,000's of years. If you want to check out a bit more about fungi, including an explanation and pics of the Zombifying fungus ... check out this TED talk by Paul Stamets: http://www.ted.com/t..._the_world.html Common Oyster mushrooms can digest hydrocarbon fuels - they can eat diesel and convert it into foodstuff (carbohydrates). Fungi are attacked by the same pathogens that attack animals (including humans) and they develop "anti-bodies" to protect themselves while they colonise a food substrate. These compounds are highly effective in boosting human immune systems. They are showing great promise in treating cancer - the underlying mechanism appears to be that the human immune system is unable to differentiate between a cancer cell and a healthy cell, hence cancerous cells don't get attacked by our defence system. (medicinal) mushrooms appear to contain compounds that adhere only to the cancerous cells, "marking" the cells as undesirable, which our immune system recognises, responds to and eliminates the unhealthy cells. Other mushrooms show promise in combating Smallpox and H1N1 bird flu viruses - effectiveness and efficacy is several leagues of order above any other natural or manufactured substances. And to bring my response back on topic here's a pic of the zombifying mushroom growing out of an ant. Paul Stamets has patented modified fungi which are attractive to ants and termites invading a house. The ants take the fungi back to the queen to feed her, and the fungi eats the queen from the inside. He can even steer ants in insects in various directions by exposing them to "desirable and undesirable" fungi and spores. Oh, and mushrooms can definitely influence your brain ... even eaten Psilocybin ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CordyceptZombie Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Very good stuff! I just heard someone talking about fungi behaving more like an animal than a plant. So is a fungi in it's own Kingdom still? Did you see the human zombie myth that may come from the black plague? Is it possible that a parasitic fungus can preserve the functions of cells that would be considered dead without the parasite? It makes sense to me that if a parasite could, it would prolong the life of the host and I know yeast can live a long time with minimal food. People don't give fungi enough credit in my opinion... they're weird and wonderful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CordyceptZombie Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 http://rockethub.com/projects/3737-support-zombie-research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prudhvi Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 This is a nice posting regarding fungi which control brains. But, as far as I knew this idea is far too advanced than what we are at now. This would be a great invention. But, in order to control brains of one the fungi must be able to communicate between the master and slave. Such, type of Fungi can be created by using nano technology. But, here arises the problem how to create such nano particles which are fungi. For this I got a solution, we can create fungi from our old concept generated from the birth of life form. As we know the life forms have been created from potassium and sulphur and we can create such fungi nano particles. But, the behavior we have to study before continuing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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