Ep 39 Toxoplasmosis: Calling All Cats

So your latest blood test results have come in, and you see a couple of numbers for cholesterol. What do those numbers mean, and why do we care about them? In this first part of our cholesterol miniseries, we break down the science behind this compound and trace how we made the l ...  Show more

You’ve seen the headlines: a food-borne parasite is infecting people across the US, leaving them chained to the toilet sometimes for weeks on end, as they are ravaged by wave after wave of gastrointestinal upset. What the heck is cyclosporiasis and where did it come from? How sca ...  Show more

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that favors cats, but it can also be found in humans. Discover the disturbing details of how toxoplasma gondii finds a host -- and how it affects human beings -- in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

In this episode:00:48 A new way to grow a tricky parasite in the labToxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes the zoonotic disease toxoplasmosis, has a complex, multi-stage life cycle. Some of these stages will only grow in the intestines of cats, making it difficult to study. ...  Show more

It’s a Halloween episode! “There’s a scary secret lurking in the kitty litter…” We’re making a horror movie about a common cat parasite - that can control minds! Toxoplasma gondii makes mice lose their fear of cats, in a plot to take over the world! Biologist Sebastian Lourido he ...  Show more

Daniel and Kelly talk about Toxoplasma gondii, and the "science" of ghost hunting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.