Parasitic lives

One summer day, curiosity led little Chelsea Wood to take a sample of sea snail under a microscope. A new universe appeared within the eyes of the future scientist: the world of white sausage-like creatures shifting, as if trying to escape the sea snail’s skin.
The magical world in the eyes of a child

Subconsciously, Chelsea Wood dreams of becoming an ocean biologist, studying the lives of dolphins or diving deep into the sea to solve the mystery of the vast animal world. She has a special fondness for sea snails, spending time watching each little animal slowly moving inside the mini “laboratory”, a wooden basket. It took more than 20 years, Chelsea Wood, then known in the world of marine biology at the University of Washington, realized that the childhood world in a snail shell as a child hides life from the larvae. The flatworm species Cryptocotyle lingua (a common fish parasite), in the naive thinking of a young age, looks extremely adorable and has the charm of two black-eyed dots. Wood couldn’t take his eyes off the bizarre creature, and then constantly questioned their origins, so much so that he said, “One day, I’ll know who they are.” Going to college, Wood spends most of his time in the lab with his … stupid friends. Wood’s biological world lives on its host, like an outcast in the animal universe. Apparently, the scientific community is indebted to Chelsea Wood (et al.), When the researcher initiated the movement to preserve the parasites has always been estranged by science. The microscopic, “parasitic” world must make up nearly half of all known animals on Earth, but not all species are harmful to the host, including humans. The parasites make up nearly half of all known animals on Earth. Imagine one day in the next century, 10% of parasites disappear due to climate change, there is no suitable host, what will happen? Wood is concerned, but we’re indifferent. The International Union for Conservation of Nature only lists a few species of mussels or lice parasites as “high risk”, while the parasite world is extremely large. Chelsea Wood said that, neglecting the parasite, is accepting failure in biological science research. Scientifically contested, critically opposed the views of anyone who supported Chealsea Wood. Biology preserves the fallacy, that we are taking slow steps … but surely to explore the parasite world, not forget. A few support Chelsea Wood, believing that the achievements in parasitic research open up potential for breakthroughs in medicine, ecology and the history of species development. The charm of the parasite lurks within the ancient genetic resources to evolve, from the tiny “super evil” crustacean ready to kill the fish’s tongue to the wasps with venom that paralyzes the brain of cockroaches. We still envision creatures swung, stained and frightened, but the parasitic world impresses in their own way, and holds a key part of all species’ lives. Many, but not all Humans are superior animals, but share the same fate with the vast majority of other species such as lions, zebras or even fish and shrimp. That is, we all become hosts of many parasitic groups, even though humans do not show hospitality to them. Science believes that hundreds of different parasitic species have evolved to adapt to the body, and then attach their lives, including many generations to come, to the human body. Chealsea Wood doubted, from the time she was sitting in the university lab, about the parasite’s ability to “grow like a mushroom” – a moment when she thought of herself as a nutritious buffet. energy for any hunger in the biological world. Big idea met together. When ecologist Skylar Hopkins (University of North Carolina) defined the concept of parasitism, Wood seemed to open his eyes. The nature of the parasite is an incompatible symbiotic relationship between species, in which one species is a parasite, one is a parasite, the other is a host or a host. Just imagine this simple: species of parasites are not wild “race arms” like hunting – being eaten, but the trick of choosing a “leisurely” life with a big partner. Wood, and then Hopkins, foresaw that nature doesn’t like emptiness, and if given the chance, something evolved to fill that void. This becomes the foundation for the two scientists to mobilize a wave of in-depth research on parasites towards preventing the endangered threat of many species. New England buffalo leech suddenly disappeared for the past 10 years. Life on Earth formed inside a mixed bowl of soup, with primitive drops of Coacervate, making up countless creatures. The parasite thus evolved, over billions of years, from a single-celled microorganism to today’s complex vertebral body. Amateurs will be shocked if they know that parasites exist everywhere, from parasitic fungi, parasitic worms, to parasitic birds, even demon bats with their favorite “food” being the blood of other animals. The oblivion of science made Hopkins speak, and like Wood at first, received only the shake of his head. The Wood-Kins couple did not give up, but quietly enlarged parasite conservation research groups in the US, then spread to Europe, starting to implement a global plan in early 2021 with the media front: Journal of Biological Conservation. Ten years of tracing parasitic science, underwater or on land, are frustrating days when Wood-Kins has only kept two “ancient” data samples from the 1940s. Death and death – the host dies, the parasite dies, without any recorded evidence. The endangered rare dwarf pig in the foothills of the Himalayas made Chelsea Wood and Skylar Hopkins discouraged to learn that this pig-like blood-sucking lice have hardly disappeared. And what makes Wood-Kins want to give up most is his ambition to eradicate a parasitic louse on the California Falcon, or the New England buffalo leech that has been suddenly missing for the past ten years. Normalization of relations One winter night in December 2020, Skylar Hopkins received a long email with concerns about the world of parasites. How terrible would that biological universe, if one day disappear, be? Hopkins quietly painted a pale picture: the parasite is not worrying, only afraid that the ecosystem will “explode” without the parasites. Some people consider the female parasite needs to adjust the population, limit the individual quantity of the species to keep the balance for the ecosystem. Some people assume that no parasite means that many species lose their food source. Hopkins believes this, because some parasites transform their hosts to evolve, manipulate the “mentality” of new owners, turning new hosts into good prey for other species. Hopkins called this a talent for hypnosis, she discovered in the horse mane worms (Nematomorpha) specialized in cricket parasites, thanks to the substance capable of destroying the nervous system that prompted the owner to voluntarily jump into the water and drown. The host dies, the horse maneworms will escape and begin a new cycle with the next victim, while the crickets become food for freshwater salmon. With Chelsea Wood, humans do not rush to a universe without parasites. In many countries like the United States, the disappearance of some intestinal parasites has caused many confusing autoimmune diseases. Thinking explains it in a way: the immune system evolved along with an “association” of parasites and protozoa, so losing this association begins to attack itself. That is why many people with Crohn’s disease (chronic trans-walled enteritis) have sought a cure when rebalancing the intestinal ecosystem with some parasitic species. Horse mane worms are capable of hypnosis, causing the cricket host to commit suicide. Obviously, the movement Wood-Kins initiated, which made even the hardest of people more or less happy. Dr. Bobbi Pritt, for example, famous at the Mayo Clinic for his “anti-parasitic” view, is always busy carrying blood tubes containing dozens of malaria parasites, looking closely at the diseased brain tissue. Toxoplasma curvature to nest, or cure ulcers from sandfly bites. Blog page “Poisonous, Crazy but Beautiful” was born, towards the medical point of view is to remove pathogenic parasites but need to dig deep into research and be ready to preserve when needed. It seems that Wood and Hopkins have successfully conveyed the message: we do not need to love parasites, but should “normalize” their relationship when there are many hidden parasitic mysteries to nature and species themselves. people. With mother of nature, understanding first and then knowing what the next step should be …