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Parasite

New Release: Odder Still – D.N. Bryn

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Odder Still - D.N. Bryn

QSFer D.N. Bryn has a new MM steampunk fantasy out (bi, gay, trans ftm): Odder Still. Rubem of No-Man’s Land was content keeping to his wine, his pets, and his extensive collection of fishnets. But since a sentient, fuel-producing parasite bonded to his brainstem, every morally-depraved scientist and hardcore rebel for a hundred miles wants to ruthlessly dissect him. The parasite itself is no better, influencing his emotions and sassing him with his own memories as it slowly takes over his body. The only person offering Rubem help is Tavish K. Findlay, a dashing and manipulative philanthropist whose mother’s fuel … Read more

“Zombie” Parasite From Cats Can Make You Take More Risks

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cat - pixabay

There’s a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and it can turn a normally risk-averse mouse into a bold, cat-seeking rodent. Cats that devour such mice can then pass the parasite onto humans. But once humans are infected, what happens to them? Do they become Toxoplasma gondii zombies, acting however the parasite deems fit? The answer is complex; studies show that people who test positive for this condition are more likely to take certain kinds of risks than those who don’t have toxoplasmosis, but it’s not yet clear how this happens. Toxoplasma gondii can live in most mammals, but its life … Read more

NATURE: This Vampire Parasite Eats Tongues

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tongue-eating louse

When scientists recently X-rayed a fish’s head, they found a gruesome stowaway: A “vampire” crustacean had devoured, then replaced, its host’s tongue. The buglike isopod, also called a tongue biter or tongue-eating louse, keeps sucking its blood meals from a fish’s tongue until the entire structure withers away. Then the true horror begins, as the parasite assumes the organ’s place in the still-living fish’s mouth. Biologist Kory Evans, an assistant professor in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas, discovered the tongue biter while digitizing X-rays of fish skeletons. He shared images of the surprising and horrifying … Read more

SCIENCE: This Animal Doesn’t Breathe

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When the parasitic blob known as Henneguya salminicola sinks its spores into the flesh of a tasty fish, it does not hold its breath. That’s because H. salminicola is the only known animal on Earth that does not breathe. If you spent your entire life infecting the dense muscle tissues of fish and underwater worms, like H. salminicola does, you probably wouldn’t have much opportunity to turn oxygen into energy, either. However, all other multicellular animals on Earth whose DNA scientists have had a chance to sequence have some respiratory genes. According to a new study published today (Feb. 24) … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Parasite, by Soren Summers

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Parasite

QSFer Soren Summers has a new MM paranormal book out: It’s been one hundred and forty-five days since the world ended. Paragon has swept through the city of Pleasance like a reaper’s scythe. Now the dead walk the earth, seeking the flesh of the living. Still Jarod Samuels refuses to die. As a hunter, Jarod safeguards the Hive, the ruined mall he calls home. He exterminates zombies to protect the city’s last few survivors, and to keep Gabriel Anderson unharmed, their lives intertwined now more than ever. But in a city ravaged by Vertex’s corruption, there’s no telling what dangers … Read more