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Article: Brainwashed: meet tiny terrors that invade animals' bodies and take over their brains.(life science)
- Article from:
- SuperScience
- Article date:
- October 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Rats walking into a cat's jaws. Land-loving crickets taking deadly dives into ponds. Ants hanging on blades of grass to be eaten by cows. What's gotten into these animals? Their brains are under the influence of deadly parasites.
Parasites make their home in or on other animals and feed off them. But some of these invaders have another power: they take control of their host's brain. Then their victim may become helpless to resist their commands.
How do these masters of mind control reprogram their hosts? Scientists are still investigating--and marveling at--some parasites' power to brainwash. "Some parasites probably know more about the brain than all ...