• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Algal virus found slowing down the brains of humans

P

Perspicuo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
1,289
Location
Costa Rica
Basic Beliefs
Empiricist, ergo agnostic
ScienceAlert: Algal virus found slowing down the brains of humans
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20142910-26415.html

An algal virus called ATCV-1 was first discovered several years ago in brain tissue samples taken from deceased humans. Because the researchers couldn't confirm if the virus had made its way there before or after death, not much came from the discovery initially. But more recently, ATCV-1 was discovered again, and this time in the throats of patients affected by psychiatric disease who were very much alive. Was there a connection between the presence of this little-known virus and the patients' psychiatric conditions? Led by paediatric infectious disease expert Robert Yolken, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University in the US decided to find out.
Click to expand...

So in a sense, says Byrne at Motherboard, ATCV-1 could be acting like the notorious parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which makes its way from cats to humans and is possibly messing with our brains. Rather than making its hosts sick, the virus could simply be living inside them like a parasite, and its presence happens to have some notable but fairly harmless effects.
Click to expand...

Fiend_Without_A_Face.jpg

Artist's conception (awright... But doesn't this look cool?)
 
Scary, but I think the evidence is still thin, and I wouldn't panic yet. Maybe a good way to test the hypothesis is to do time-series IQ studies, before and after owning a cat.
 
Does this affect nori? If so, I think we finally have an explanation for why I turned out this way, because I eat a lot of that stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom