Mind Control


People like to think they control their behavior. I read an interesting article in this month’s Discovery magazine that puts this issue in question.


The article is about the Toxoplasma gondli microbe. Zoologists have just finished a study showing that the microbe actually alters the brain chemistry of rats so that they are more likely to seek out cats! Infection thus makes a rat more likely to be killed by a cat with the microbe ending up in a cat – the only host in which it can complete the reproductive step in its life cycle.


This parasite also lives in many species including an estimated 60 million supposedly symptomless Americans. Studies over the past few years have suggested (not proven) that toxoplasmosis infections in humans also may cause behavioral changes. These include everything from subtle shifts to outright schizophrenia. One scientist also thinks it may be skewing the sex ratios. When he looked at the records of 1800 births he found that instead of the normal sex ratio of 104 boys for every 100 girls that the ratio was 260 boys to 100 girls in women with high levels of antibodies against the parasite.


Another scientist who had trouble getting his work published showed that people with this infection had more than twice the probability of having an auto accident.

I remember an article in one of last years weekly news magazines where they said that fat cells actually alter your brain chemistry to make you eat more than you need. Do I hear that peanut butter jar calling my name?