A team of French biologists discovered the effects hairworms had on grashoppers when they found grasshoppers trapped in a swimming pool in southern France. Although it was not clear how the hairworms got into the grasshoppers, a scientist called Biron says it might happen when the grasshoppers drink larvae-infested water. Once the hairworm is full-grown, it releases proteins that influence the grasshoppers' central nervous systems and causes it to commit suicide so the hairworm can reproduce. This finding may help the development of medical treatments for diseases such as rabies, sleeping sickness, and toxoplasmosis. These diseases manipulate their victim in similar ways that the hairworm does. I thought this article was very interesting and it amazed me the discoveries that scientists could make from discovering strange things.
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