MicrobeWorld

MicrobeWorld App

Microbes After Hours

Click for more "Microbes After Hours" videos

Featured Image

Featured Video

Home

TWiP 9 letters

Share this page:

Tags:

James writes:

One of the other science based podcasts I love listening to is an actual radio show in NZ called Our Changing World. This week the final story was on Hookworms and some researchers studying it, looking for a vaccine, and seeing if they could take out the anti inflammatory ability of the Hookworm and turn it into a drug or treatment without the downside of having to be infected by the worm itself. I thought you guys and the listeners would enjoy it and its a short 22 minutes.

You can find a link to the segment here http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld

Or if it has fallen off the front page here are links to the mp3 and ogg versions of it:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ocw/ocw-20100401-2146-Hookworms-048.mp3
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ocw/ocw-20100401-2146-Hookworms.ogg

And before I forget, insert platitudes on how awesome TWiP is and how it needs to become a daily show here. ;)

Kind regards,
James
New Zealand

Peter writes:

One of your emails mentioned larval stage parasites. If you consider placental mammal gestation, I think the embryo and developing offspring in utero fulfils many of the criteria of a parasite. It basically 'plugs-in' and takes everything it needs from the host (mother) until it reaches the next stage.

An intelligent egglaying (oh, say martian...) species may well view this as a hideous form of parasitism.

Nick writes:

First off I when I hear your ending song and thought it sounded like Ronald jenkes and just saw it was, I like his stuff.

So I heard on this American life podcast last week a story about a guy who heard about hook worms having an effect on wether a person has asthma or alergies. So he went to Africa and walked around in the poop fields and got the hook worm. When he gets home his alergies are gone. What do you think about that? I have alergies to cats, should I go get some worms? This was also first on a podcast of wnyc's radiolab which I highly recommend.

Jim writes:

Tapeworm brain infection 'serious health concern'

via e! Science News - Health & Medicine on 4/14/10

Tapeworm infections of the brain, which can cause epileptic seizures, appear to be increasing in Mexico and bordering southwestern states, Loyola University Health System researchers report.

Brian writes:

I heard that every vertebrate has it's own tapeworm, but what is the human tapeworm? In other words, if a tiger eats a human, what tapeworm does the tiger get?

Thanks

P.S. Now I want to find some fake gravid proglotids and leave them in my roommates bed.

Gopal writes:

Saw this piece in The New York Times and remembered Dick talking about the life cycle of the pig tapeworm. -- Gopal Raj, a science journalist in India and a regular listener of both TWiP and TWiV

Global Update: Kenya: Pig Farmers Are Focus of Effort to Stop Spread of Parasite That Causes Epilepsy
By DENISE GRADY
A new program teaches farmers to tether or confine their pigs to keep them away from human waste.

Arsen writes:

Hey. You talking about fish tapeworm reminded me of another interesting fish parasite: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/tongue-eating-parasite-discovered.php

This fellow eats fish tongue and replaces it.

Keep up the good work

Arsen

Sky writes:

Just listened to the last episode "TWiP 7: Tapeworms are fantastic!", and you know what?

You both are fantastic almost like the Tapeworms!

thank you : )

Sky

Brent writes:

I love the podcast!!! You've been talking about tapeworms. Can you talk more about the treatment for tapeworms? How does the treatment work? Does it kill the tapeworm or just force it out of the body? Are there any issues or side effects with the treatment?

Thanks,
Brent

Michael writes:

Hey Guys

I'm a medieval history who became fascinated with parasites from dealing on the plague. From there I developed a course on plagues and people through history, which covered both parasitic and viral plagues which have wiped out large portions of humanity throughout history and the effect. I have felt in love with both TWIP and TWIV. Thanks for taking the time to these school, and has had been, more episodes. I have finally gotten a copy of Dick's most recent edition of the book and it is my bedtime reading.

Thanks again

Kaja writes:

Dear Twip,

I've been following you from twiv and although I'm more of a virologist I have to say twip really is amazing. I enjoy Dickson's way of narrating these amazing life cycles of parasites. It really is an exciting subject. I even looked up study programs of parasitology at our university, as you pointed out, it's quite similar to virology on big scale. My question for Dick is, how does the life cycle of a parasite even occur? Did the tapeworm exist in some form before it became a parasite or was it just a parasite in one organism before it evolved to transform and change hosts in different stages of life? Did the evolution somehow make an opportunity for it's life cycle in dog-sheep-dog? Surely dogs weren't always around sheep to catch the worm and thus giving it a chance to evolve in this sophisticated life cycle with so many different forms of the worm. I hope you understood the question and maybe in one show can explain the evolution of parasites. This podcast really is amazing to learn from and I wish you would make it more often. I really appreciate all you work with twiv and twip, it's a pleasure to be taught by you. Keep on the good work!