Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Toxoplasmosis as a Cultural Determinant?

According to a blog that I found, a recent study seems to suggest that Toxoplasmosis can have an effect on human cultures. As we discussed in class today, toxoplasmosis levels vary from country to country, correlating with levels of exposure and risk factors such as the consumption of undercooked meat. Also as we discussed today, toxoplasmosis can have effects, albeit small, on human behaviors. Therefore, this blogger suggests that varying cultural behavior may be at least partly affected by toxoplamosis infections. This is not to say that the blogger thinks that all cultures are completely determined by toxoplasmosis affects, but I think that it is an interesting hypothesis. I'll let you decide if you think that it's a sound judgement.

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/10/toxoplasma_the_brain_parasite_that_influences_human_culture.php

1 comment:

Erin Mordecai said...

This toxoplasmosis and culture work was done by Kevin Lafferty, a professor at UCSB! You can find his original paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, here:

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/273/1602/2749.full