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Yoschie99
nomad
Registered: 11/24/99
Posts: 3,149
Loc: center of earth
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parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach
#5258710 - 02/03/06 10:28 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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this is pretty freaking cool!
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/03/wasp_performs_roachb.html
Ampulex compressa is a wasp that has evolved to tackle roaches, insert a stinger into their brains and disable their escape reflexes. This lets the wasp use the roach's antennae to steer the roach to its lair, where it can lay its egg in it. Parasite Rex author Carl Zimmer tells the story in gooey, graphic detail:
The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use ssensors along the sides of the stinger to guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoscope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears to control the escape reflex. She injects a second venom that influences these neurons in such a way that the escape reflex disappears.
From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it--in the words of Israeli scientists who study Ampulex--like a dog on a leash.
The zombie roach crawls where its master leads, which turns out to be the wasp's burrow. The roach creeps obediently into the burrow and sits there quietly, while the wasp plugs up the burrow with pebbles. Now the wasp turns to the roach once more and lays an egg on its underside. The roach does not resist. The egg hatches, and the larva chews a hole in the side of the roach. In it goes.
The larva grows inside the roach, devouring the organs of its host, for about eight days. It is then ready to weave itself a cocoon--which it makes within the roach as well. After four more weeks, the wasp grows to an adult. It breaks out of its cocoon, and out of the roach as well. Seeing a full-grown wasp crawl out of a roach suddenly makes those Alien movies look pretty derivative.
yos-
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5258715 - 02/03/06 10:31 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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Holy shit! That is the most badass nature thing I've ever read about.
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leery11
I Tell You What!
Registered: 06/24/05
Posts: 5,998
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: DNKYD]
#5258724 - 02/03/06 10:36 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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ugh
-------------------- I am the MacDaddy of Heimlich County, I play it Straight Up Yo! ....I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow, to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human...... Om Namah Shivaya, I tell you What!
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blackegg
...has left the building.
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: leery11]
#5258820 - 02/03/06 11:07 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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boingboing. it's good.
-------------------- 'Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. That's what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain and leave the Shroomery.' ~ Jim Morrison
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mediman0078
Stilllooking.....
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: blackegg]
#5258855 - 02/03/06 11:22 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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That's freakin' awesome.... It's amazing that the wasp evolved to the point that it has the capability to surgically alter the roach neuronally. Natures lobotomy experts. Amazing.
I want one.
-------------------- ........someday I'll find it.
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XUL
OTD Janitor
Registered: 03/16/05
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5258935 - 02/03/06 11:46 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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damn, now thats some crazy shyte. Wonder how the wasps defned themselves. If they try to poke other creatures brains
--------------------
TRUMP 2020
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eligal
Noobie
Registered: 05/25/05
Posts: 7,021
Loc: California
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5258960 - 02/03/06 11:52 AM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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ew... right when im eating my breakfast jogurt...
-------------------- \m/ Spanksta \m/ "do you have the freedom to do with your nervous system what you want?" "MolokoMilkPlus said: I'll respect you if you let me give you a blow job" "tactik said: respect the can."
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Darkcloud
tiwkcuFtsilihiN
Registered: 04/06/03
Posts: 1,331
Loc: USA
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5259034 - 02/03/06 12:13 PM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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That's kinda trippy.
You should check out this article about a type of mind-controlling bacteria that causes it's host to go against it's normal nature (I.E. a bacteria that likes cats, to get into a rat's brain and lure it towards cats). It might be able to corrupt humans too (in a different way of course):
http://loom.corante.com/archives/2006/01/17/the_return_of_the_puppet_masters.php
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Shroomism
Space Travellin
Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5259049 - 02/03/06 12:19 PM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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Crazy shit. Awesome.
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KristiMidocean
fattie whale
Registered: 01/27/05
Posts: 3,702
Loc: Texas
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Re: parasitic wasp drives zombie cockroach [Re: Yoschie99]
#5259117 - 02/03/06 12:37 PM (18 years, 1 month ago) |
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that is soo crazy!!! It really does seem like something that would happen out of this world
-------------------- I live for LNC
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