These Mind-Controlling Worms Lack a Fundamental Gene Basically the Entire Animal Kingdom Possesses

Amaze Lab

This is the hairworm, which is sometimes called the mind-control worm. It gets inside of larger creatures and controls their brains, but now researchers have found another trait that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

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00:00this is what is sometimes called the mind control worm also known as the hair worm it gets inside

00:08the digestive tracts of other insects and works its way into the brain the worm then eats much

00:13of its insides leaving just enough for it to continue living before compelling the creature

00:18to dive into water and drown allowing the aquatic worms to exit mate and lay their eggs that's wild

00:23enough for one creature but now experts just discovered another strange trait of these mind

00:28controlling creatures their cells don't have any cilia the microscopic hair is pretty much all

00:33cells and all living things in the animal kingdom possess cilia allows cells to move around and two

00:38specific species of these worms lack those definitive biological bits a deeper dive into

00:42their dna revealed they're both missing roughly 30 of the genes experts believe are responsible for

00:48cilia development this is often the case for parasitic creatures which is why they latch onto

00:52others and utilize their bodies the researchers say they aren't sure if this is a trait that has

00:56evolved due to their specific parasitic lifestyle or if they've always just gotten along without cilia

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