Why don't plants have brains?

[shiningbrow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophioco...s_unilateralis

That's the fungus in question. It takes control, moves them to a safe location, eats them from the inside out, then errupts out of their head to start the cycle over again.

That's horrifying. I was thinking "Day of the Triffids," but that's real and a whole lot worse. Yikes.

[Kzach]

Why don't you?

Because punctuation is awesome!

That's horrifying. I was thinking "Day of the Triffids," but that's real and a whole lot worse. Yikes.

Yeah, gotta love nature. There's actually a whole bunch of things like this from plants and viruses and diseases and bacteria, etc. that change the way a person or animal behaves in order to propagate itself. Even the common cold makes you sneeze in order to spread itself about

[Ovinomancer]

Because punctuation is awesome!



Yeah, gotta love nature. There's actually a whole bunch of things like this from plants and viruses and diseases and bacteria, etc. that change the way a person or animal behaves in order to propagate itself. Even the common cold makes you sneeze in order to spread itself about

Other way around. The common cold is successful because you spread it more readily when you sneeze. Causation's the other way around on that. A virus mutated, the new version inflamed sinus membranes, people started sneezing, and the virus became successful.

[dar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

Recent research has also linked toxoplasmosis with brain cancer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.[7][8]

I've heard it called the cat lady disease and that it makes rats love the smell of cat urine and makes them bold and unafraid of cats. So they get eaten and it spreads.

Also

Up to half of the world's human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection.

Edit to add that I wouldn't be surprised that most folks here already know this.

[Fenris]

I will respectfully disagree with Wayne. My Ph.D. was done on wound and defense responses in plants. Plants do perceive being wounded and do respond to being wounded. There are a series of complex electrical, chemical and hydraulic transduction systems that send the wound signal to other parts of the plant and even prepare them for being attacked by pre-producing anti-herbivory gene products.

I always tell my students that plant can scream, we just can't hear them.

Here is the thing, animals have lots of organs that do very specialized organs. Plants have fewer organs but each does multiple roles. That is part of why plants exhibit totipotency, the ability to regenerate a new organ or even a whole plant from any cell. Plants are much more plastic in their genome, they don't turn off genes in development the way that animals do.

That brings up Kzach's question. Plants can regenerate branches because of not only the flexibility of the genome but there are redundant organs. When you cut off the branch the branch itself stops growing, but there are axillary buds at the joints. Those buds are held in check from growing by the end of the branch. Once the branch is cut though, those buds are released from dormancy and grow.

As a last mention fungi are more like animals than plants are and should be considered separately. There are fungi that make lassos out of filaments and ensnare nematodes to consume them as well.

[Kzach]

My Ph.D. was done on wound and defense responses in plants.

Awesome! So I can ask stupid questions here then

Edit to add that I wouldn't be surprised that most folks here already know this.

Yeah, there's been a couple of threads on it in the past but I had forgotten about this one in particular and it actually helps me with a plot element I was having difficulty with so thanks for reminding me

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

As a last mention fungi are more like animals than plants are and should be considered separately. There are fungi that make lassos out of filaments and ensnare nematodes to consume them as well.

Do they also have 6-shooters?

[Janos]

Do they also have 6-shooters?

There are shrimp with guns.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC6I8iPiHT8"]Pistol Shrimp sonic weapon - Weird Nature - BBC wildlife - YouTube[/ame]

[dar]

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/

Carl Zimmer's blog and articles can be wonderful and scary and bizarre. I love it. Though some of it I can't take a lot of. The brain worms being a case in point.

[Kzach]

There are shrimp with guns.

Pistol Shrimp sonic weapon - Weird Nature - BBC wildlife - YouTube

Who needs D&D monsters when you've got so much awesome in the real world?

[Fenris]

Do they also have 6-shooters?

No, but they do infect the nematode afterwards.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uktd10jLPAM"]Nematophagous fungi part 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[Fenris]

Awesome! So I can ask stupid questions here then



Yeah, there's been a couple of threads on it in the past but I had forgotten about this one in particular and it actually helps me with a plot element I was having difficulty with so thanks for reminding me

Absolutely. I helped a game company a while ago with a sci-fi setting they were developing to make their races more based in science. This included a plant like race that infected and took over hosts.

So ask away!

[nail bunny]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/04/cdc-silent-on-zombie-inducing-parasites-that-live-in-human-brains/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently denied knowing of “a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),” after a series of instances of cannibalism across the country were reported, but remains silent about the effect of zombie-inducing parasites that live in human brains.

A 2008 piece by Discover Magazine entitled, “Zombie animals and the parasites that control them,” named a single-cell parasite primarily found in cats, the Toxoplasma gondii — which alters the brain-chemistry of rats to make them more likely to seek out cats — as one such parasite.

The Toxoplasma “thus makes a rat more likely to be killed and the parasite more likely to end up in a cat — the only host in which it can complete the reproductive step of its life cycle,” Discover reported in a separate piece.
The parasite can also live in the brain cells of thousands of other warm-blooded animals, including humans. The Toxoplasma, when living inside humans, is linked to causing significant changes in behavior, including neuroticism, increased aggression and schizophrenia.

“[Animal] studies of Toxoplasma infections have demonstrated that this organism affects levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and other neurotransmitters, which are well known to be affected in persons with schizophrenia,” according to a 2003 article in the CDC’s “Emerging Infectious Diseases” publication.

The CDC’s own website acknowledges that Toxoplasma is “considered to be a leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States.”
Approximately 1 out of every 5 Americans are infected with the parasite, which is transmitted through the consumption of undercooked meats or by coming in contact with cat feces.

Pigs are also a carrier of the parasite. A study published by the American Society of Parisitologists in 1995 said that pork “is considered to be the most important meat source of T. gondii infection in the U.S.”

“Transmission to swine may also occur by the consumption of animals such as rodents and birds infected with T. gondii tissue cysts and by cannibalism,” the study said.

While pigs are known to engage in cannibalism, no known correlation between the parasite and cannibalism has been found.

France also has a high prevalence of Toxoplasma-infected people.

The Daily Caller’s inquiry to the CDC about why it omitted parasites from its denial, and about the possibility of the cannibals having been infected by the Toxoplasma, however, was met with silence.

[nail bunny]

By the way, this guy (Cymothoa Exigua) is one of my favorites:

Spoiler:

It inspired a whole alien race in one of my sci-fi games. A race that grows symbiotic animals to use as "replacement" or "upgrade" body parts... organic cyberware.

[PWD]

worse picture despite not representing it in a body:

Spoiler:

Throw that thing on the bbq, amirite?