Brent sent me a link to a page on the web. It’s a conversation with Robert Sapolsky, a quiet, funny, apparently brilliant professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and of neurology at Stanford’s School of Medicine. Professor Sapolsky has written several books such as:
- Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals
- Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers
- A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
- The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays On The Biology Of The Human Predicament
The link Brent sent me was called TOXO and he suggested it to me, to share with you, because we’re reading The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture, by Daniel W Ray. Now the video on that page was Robert Sapolsky talking about a most interesting parasite called Toxoplasma. This is what pregnant women need to worry about, and why they avoid cats and cat feces. It can wreak havoc on their unborn baby’s nervous system.
If you’re reading The God Virus, which talks about parasites and viruses as an analogy for religion, I highly recommend watching this video. If you aren’t going to read the book I still recommend the video. The transcript is underneath it too, which will make it even more accessible for you. But the video is longer than the transcript. So take 25 minutes and enjoy it. Here’s another link to the video. I’m telling you, it’s fascinating. As I mentioned, the video is longer than the transcript. He goes into telemeres and molecular age, which I heard a study about recently confirming what he is explaining.
What he’s talking about touches on evolution, common ancestors, parasites and how they go about getting where they need to be, motorcyclists and speed freaks, and schizophrenics, as well as the government’s interest in this parasite. A wild ride indeed!
Of course, as a skeptic, I thought I’d just look around a bit and see who this Sapolsky guy is, since I’d never heard of him. I found his books (linked to above), his Wikipedia page, and a very cool speech he gave to Stanford students about to graduate. It’s about the uniqueness of humans. Here is the Stanford speech:
TED likes him too. Here’s his bio page.
“If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you’re in big trouble.” Robert Sapolsky
I guess it’s no surprise that he’s an “unbudgeable atheist“. Did I mention he was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant? But if you watch the videos, you’ll find that he’s fairly easy to understand, so he’s able to teach what he knows, which is awesome.
Oh, and the connection between toxoplasma and schizophrenia? Science Daily has a few studies that I could find:
- Scientists Find Stronger Evidence For Link Between Cat Faeces And Schizophrenia: Jan 2006
- Toxoplasmosis Parasite May Trigger Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorders: March 2009
- Toxoplasma Infection Increases Risk Of Schizophrenia, Study Suggests: Jan 2008
Feel free to share anything interesting you might know about the toxoplasma parasite or Robert Sapolsky in the comments or at the meeting for The God Virus Book Club Meeting February 21st.
I heard a radio show on Public Radio last week about viruses, and parasites and how they seem to have evolved with their host that was a truly fascinating case study on evolution. It was on a show called Radio Lab. Toxoplasma was one of them they talked about.
Another was a wasp that stings cock roaches and actually take over their brain by a carefully placed sting that inserts just the right amount of venom next to the roaches brain, then ‘steers’ the roach by it’s antennas, back to the hole where it lays its eggs on it.
There was about how some can be beneficial as well… apparently about the same period of time that humans eliminated hook worm infestations in themselves through better hygiene such as using toilets and out houses instead of pooping on the ground, some allergies became dramatically more prevalent. Some British guy who had bad asthma and allergies had stumbled across some this data doing some kind of research, and decided to experiment on himself. He got himself infected with hookworm, and what do ya know, his allergies cleared up!
Apparently having them in your intestines stimulates some kind of immune response that can affect how your body deals with allergic reactions. He is in the process of trying to sell hookworms to others and get research started on this.
When you see stories like this you realize that science is just beginning to unravel the depths to which all living things are connected.
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