The yechhh files

Carl Zimmer, one of my all-time favorite science writers, has made a speciality out of the weird ways of parasites and how they manipulate the behavior of their hosts. Kind of appropriate, when you think about it — a guy who builds his career by specializing in knowledge of the behavior of critters that build their careers by specializing in the behavior of critters . . . woah, I’m starting to lose track here.

You want to know about the wasp that paralyzes the brains of cockroaches and uses their antennae to steer them into a specially dug burrow, where they will spend the rest of their days waiting for baby wasps to hatch and devour them? You want to know about the fungus that invades the brains of its host insects and induces them to climb to the tops of plants, so its spores will get the widest possible dispersion? Sure you do — and Zimmer is your go-to guy. His book Parasite Rex would be an ideal stocking-stuffer for anyone you know who’s still mourning the cancellation of The X-Files — a show that dipped into parasite lore more than once for story ideas.

Zimmer recently gave a speech on the subject at Cornell, and his Web site obligingly offers a video link. If you don’t have time for the full lecture, this tasty bit of YouTube should serve as a bonbon.