Parasite

Author: Mira Grant
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0316218936
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 512

Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author Mira Grant comes a vision of a decade in the future, where humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them. "A riveting near-future medical thriller that reads like the genetically-engineered love child of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton." —John Joseph Adams More from Mira Grant: Parasitology Parasite Symbiont Chimera Newsflesh Feed Deadline Blackout Feedback Rise

Parasite

Author: Bong Joon Ho
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538753278
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Discover the illustrations that inspired the historic, OSCAR®-winning film's every shot in this graphic novel drawn by Director Bong Joon Ho himself. So metaphorical: With hundreds of mesmerizing illustrations, Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboardsis a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of one of the best films in years and a brand-new way to experience a global phenomenon. As part of his unique creative process, Director Bong Joon Ho storyboarded each shot of PARASITE prior to the filming of every scene. Accompanied by the film's dialogue, the storyboards he drew capture the story in its entirety and inspired the composition of the film's every frame and scene. Director Bong has also written a foreword and provided early concept drawings and photos from the set, which take the reader even deeper into the vision that gave rise to this stunning cinematic achievement. Director Bong's illustrations share the illuminating power of his writing and directing. The result is a gorgeous, riveting read and a fresh look at the vertiginous delights and surprises of Bong Joon Ho's deeply affecting, genre-defying story.

Language Parasites: Of Phorontology

Author: Sean Braune
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 0998531863
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Book Description
"What we call "Being" infects us and speaks through us - it treats us as a host to a linguistic and experiential parasite. Ontology - the study of Being - has primarily dealt with human questions regarding Being at the expense of the non-human, inhuman, and posthuman. Language Parasites works against this tendency by offering a "phorontology": a theory of Being inspired by "phoronts," which are tiny organisms that engage in parasitic migration (lice, mites, ticks, fleas, etc.). What is the Being of a parasite and how can that complicated non-human ontology influence human definitions of Being? Gradually, the anthropocentric distinction of subject and object fades away in favor of the emergence of a strange new philosophical entity called the transject, a being that is thrown far afield from the more normative notions of the subject that can be found in Hegel, Kant, Lacan, or even Foucault, Nietzsche, and Deleuze. A 'pataphysical excursion into the intricate world of philosophical ontology, Language Parasites presents the initial discoveries of a much larger project that seeks to redefine the boundaries of Being. This book is the result of a parasitic infection of continental philosophy in which the various parasites of German and French philosophy all meet at one locale for one express purpose: to eat together, feed together, and think together."--Back cover.

Parasite Rex

Author: Carl Zimmer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 074320011X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites control the minds of their hosts, sending them to their destruction. IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites are masters of chemical warfare and camouflage, able to cloak themselves with their hosts' own molecules. IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites steer the course of evolution, where the majority of species are parasites. WELCOME TO EARTH. For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and in the darkest shadows of science. Yet these creatures are among the world's most successful and sophisticated organisms. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer deftly balances the scientific and the disgusting as he takes readers on a fantastic voyage. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the fetid parasite haven of southern Sudan, Zimmer graphically brings to life how parasites can change DNA, rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn hosts into the living dead. This thorough, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach us about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe.

This Is Your Brain On Parasites

Author: Kathleen McAuliffe
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0544193229
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Book Description
“Engrossing . . . [An] expedition through the hidden and sometimes horrifying microbial domain.” —The Wall Street Journal Parasites can live only inside another animal and, as Kathleen McAuliffe reveals, these tiny organisms have many evolutionary motives for manipulating the behavior of their hosts. With astonishing precision, parasites can coax rats to approach cats, spiders to transform the patterns of their webs, and fish to draw the attention of birds that then swoop down to feast on them. We humans are hardly immune to their influence. Organisms we pick up from our own pets are strongly suspected of changing our personality traits and contributing to recklessness and impulsivity—even suicide. Germs that cause colds and the flu may alter our behavior even before symptoms become apparent. Parasites influence our species on the cultural level, too. Drawing on a huge body of research, McAuliffe argues that our dread of contamination is an evolved defense against parasites. The horror and revulsion we are programmed to feel when we come in contact with people who appear diseased or dirty helped pave the way for civilization, but may also be the basis for major divisions in societies that persist to this day. This Is Your Brain on Parasites is both a journey into cutting-edge science and a revelatory examination of what it means to be human. “If you’ve ever doubted the power of microbes to shape society and offer us a grander view of life, read on and find yourself duly impressed.” —Bookforum “Fascinating—and full of the kind of factoids you can’t wait to share.” —Scientific American “Humorous, inspiring, and macabre, this is infectious reading in the tradition of giants like Robert S. Desowitz and Jared Diamond.” —Michael A. Huffman, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Ascaris

Author: Celia Holland
Publisher: Newnes
ISBN: 012397285X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 461

Book Description
This book tackles a number of different perspectives concerning the parasitic helminth Ascaris, both in animals and in humans and the disease known as ascariasis. It seeks to identify interesting, exciting and novel aspects, which will interest readers from a broad range of disciplines.Over a quarter of the world's population are infected with the human roundworm, and the equivalent in pigs is equally ubiquitous. Both contribute to insidious and chronic nutritional morbidity, and this has been quantified, in humans, as disability adjusted life years approximating 10.5 million. Ascaris larvae develop in host parenteral tissues, and the resultant pathology has been condemnation. Ascariasis, despite its staggering global prevalence and the sheer numbers of people it infects, remains a classic neglected disease. However, renewed interest in the consequences of early infection with worms from the perspective of immune modulation, co-infections and the development of allergy further enhances the relevance of these parasites. - Brings together a wide range of topics and approaches and recent, comprehensive and progressive research concerning the neglected parasite Ascaris - Provides a blueprint of how a single parasite entity can stimulate interest in basic biology, clinical science, veterinary science, public health and epidemiology - Presents a wealth of new insights given that a book on this parasite has not been published for over 20 years - 16 chapters from a range of top authors from around the world

The Parasite Menace

Author: Skye Weintraub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9781885670885
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Parasites. The word typically conjures images of impoverished living conditions, foreign travel or questionable eating establishments. But the presence of parasites is much more common than most people think. Contaminated water supplies, poor hygiene, and ignorance, coupled with the presence of various commonly found parasites puts infection rates among North Americans as high as 85 percent, according to some experts. In The Parasite Menace, Dr. Skye Weintraub educates the reader about parasites: how to prevent infection, detect their presence, and rid ourselves of them by through diet and nutrition, herbal and supplemental therapies, and other natural practices. Dr. Weintraub also examines proper hygiene practices, water filters, proper food handling, immune system fortification, and other ways to decrease our risk of being infected with parasites.

Peeps

Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101119128
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life. Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . . Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.

Parasite Biodiversity

Author: Robert Poulin
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1935623494
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
This comprehensive, groundbreaking book on the biodiversity of parasites offers a clear and accessible explanation of how parasite biodiversity provides insight into the history and biogeography of other organisms, the structure of ecosystems, and the processes that lead to the diversification of life.

Parasite Eve

Author: Hideaki Sena
Publisher: Kodansha USA
ISBN: 1942993587
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
When Dr. Nagashima loses his wife in a mysterious car crash, he is overwhelmed with grief but also an eerie sense of purpose; he becomes obsessed with reincarnating his dead wife. Her donated kidney is transplanted into a young girl with a debilitating disorder, but the doctor also feels compelled to keep a small sample of her liver in his laboratory. When these cells start mutating rapidly, a consciousness bent on determining its own fate awakens, bent on becoming the new dominant species on earth. Parasite Eve was the basis of the hugely popular video game of the same name in the U.S. and has been cinematized in Japan.