Forget curing cancer . . . I like when scientists spend their time trying to figure out why owning 15 cats eventually makes a woman start talking in gibberish and eating garbage.
And now, we have a possible answer.
Kevin Lafferty is a parasite ecologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and he's made a VERY weird discovery about cats.
When you have a pet cat, it can INFECT YOUR BRAIN with a parasite.
Cats can infect people and other animals with a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii . . . and that parasite goes straight to the brain and MESSES with your personality.
You get the parasite from handling your cat's droppings.
It's good for cats when they're in the wild.
If a mouse gets infected by the parasite . . . usually by EATING cat feces . . . it makes the mouse more adventurous, so he has no problem hanging around closer to cats.
Then . . . the cats can EAT him.
For humans, it's a little bit different.
The parasite causes personality changes . . . mostly ones that will make you a better owner toward the cat.
Women who get infected tend to be warm, outgoing, and attentive.
Men get LESS intelligent and more BORING.
But . . . people who are exposed to the parasite a lot, like someone who owns a ton of cats, can end up developing SCHIZOPHRENIA.
Now, this doesn't mean you should get rid of your cats.
Lafferty says that most cats won't end up passing the parasite on to humans . . . especially if you keep your cats from chewing on random diseased animals, and you're careful around his droppings.
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