A mind-altering parasite that can make rats suicidally attracted to cat pee may also make people more likely to start a new business, according to new findings. The scientists say that their results reveal how parasites could help shape the global economy.
The parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects more than 2 billion people — that is, more than a quarter of the world population. The protozoans can live in many warm-blooded creatures, where they reproduce asexually, but they ultimately want to end up in cats, where they reproduce sexually. Once they breed in cats, their eggs are shed into cat poop, where they can disperse to soil, water or anything else contaminated with the excrement.
