> "We see that the longer a female fly has been dead, the more alluring it becomes to males. This is because the number of fungal spores increases with time, which enhances the seductive fragrances," explains Henrik H. De Fine Licht
How so? German/Dutch licht should correspond to modern English light, and this is indeed the case:
> From Middle High German liecht, from Old High German lioht, from Proto-West Germanic *leuht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-. Compare Dutch licht, English light.
> light, bright (luminescent)
> unobstructed, clear
(The Dutch word, like the English word, also means "the opposite of heavy".)
Lich comes from Old English lic, a completely different kind of word form. [The Old English form suggested by light is liht, but in fact the OE word is leoht.]
It is unrelated to light; instead, the more common descendant of lic in modern English is the word like.
Yes, it just turns into a kind of funny pun across languages.
“De Fine Licht” in English looks like a funny spelling of “The Fine Lich,” like we’re describing a good looking undead wizard. False cognates lead to funny coincidences.
I think they refer to Lich. From wikipedia: In fantasy fiction, a lich (/ˈlɪtʃ/;[1] from the Old English līċ, meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich
There is some (very controversial) theories surrounding the effects of gastrointestinal parasites on the sexual proclivities of men. Certainly there is an astonishingly high rate of such infection in the homosexual community; the controversial part is only whether this is a cause or symptom.
Imagine an alien scientist reporting that some men don pink, white, and blue knee-high socks and adopt stripper names to lure other males into the act copulation.
We act like we're above this stuff because we understand some of it, but we aren't really. Especially considering how verboten it is to explore some of these possibilities in the realm of academia, who knows how subject we are to similar phenomena by our own behaviour-altering pathogens.
I don't know if you're asserting that the rate of gastrointestinal parasite infection in the homosexual community is not significantly higher than in the general population (which is objectively incorrect, as I understand), or that I have some moral obligation to ignore or even censure this fact.
Let me get this straight: you find a fungus that can take over creatures, turn them into zombies, kill then, then make more creatures copulate with a corpse to spread the fungus and you are recommending we put that stuff next to our homes and food facilities?
The pheromones usually work in one direction. Otherwise female flies would also be attracted to other females. Also males seem to prefer infected females only [1]:
> Housefly males are able to distinguish between male and female cadavers also when covered in infectious E. muscae conidia, and appear to readily initiate courtship and mating strikes towards infected female cadavers.
There is a scifi novel from the 80s or 90s employing a ~somewhat~ similar plot device for a human, although the name now escapes me. Ring a bell with anyone?
Rough transcription; for its reproduction, the wasp injects a cockroach with poison to paralyze it, then stings it in exactly that part of the brain responsible for its flight reflex to make it docile. After knibbling a bit on the cockroach's antennae and enjoying the hemolymph seeping out of the cockrach, the wasp takes the cockroach by its antennae and, even though it is much bigger than the wasp, directs it to its nest like a dog on a leech. In the nest of the cockroach the wasp lays an egg, which soon hatches a larvae that in turn proceeds to eat the cockroach alive while it is still dazed...And this is just the top of the ice berg.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 72.4 ms ] threadHe’s a Licht! It says so right there!
> From Middle High German liecht, from Old High German lioht, from Proto-West Germanic *leuht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-. Compare Dutch licht, English light.
> light, bright (luminescent)
> unobstructed, clear
(The Dutch word, like the English word, also means "the opposite of heavy".)
( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/licht#Etymology )
Lich comes from Old English lic, a completely different kind of word form. [The Old English form suggested by light is liht, but in fact the OE word is leoht.]
It is unrelated to light; instead, the more common descendant of lic in modern English is the word like.
“De Fine Licht” in English looks like a funny spelling of “The Fine Lich,” like we’re describing a good looking undead wizard. False cognates lead to funny coincidences.
Imagine an alien scientist reporting that some men don pink, white, and blue knee-high socks and adopt stripper names to lure other males into the act copulation.
We act like we're above this stuff because we understand some of it, but we aren't really. Especially considering how verboten it is to explore some of these possibilities in the realm of academia, who knows how subject we are to similar phenomena by our own behaviour-altering pathogens.
I wonder what kind of parasites and infections drive bigotry, ignorance and general unpleasantness.
a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls.
(See https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html#cflag for how to flag a comment.)
seeing that cordyceps is distributed this way, I think it could be seen as a deliberate reproductive strategy
Does it lure females to copulate with the male corpses? Or males?
> Housefly males are able to distinguish between male and female cadavers also when covered in infectious E. muscae conidia, and appear to readily initiate courtship and mating strikes towards infected female cadavers.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41396-022-01284-x
or maybe they mate often enough to spread it to more females
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psirens
The other day I encountered an example in David Goulson's recent book Silent Earth (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56470413-silent-earth) that I did not know yet about; the emerald cockroach wasp (ampulex compressa).
Rough transcription; for its reproduction, the wasp injects a cockroach with poison to paralyze it, then stings it in exactly that part of the brain responsible for its flight reflex to make it docile. After knibbling a bit on the cockroach's antennae and enjoying the hemolymph seeping out of the cockrach, the wasp takes the cockroach by its antennae and, even though it is much bigger than the wasp, directs it to its nest like a dog on a leech. In the nest of the cockroach the wasp lays an egg, which soon hatches a larvae that in turn proceeds to eat the cockroach alive while it is still dazed...And this is just the top of the ice berg.