Terror, Parasitism and Altruism

Haha this seemed too good to pass: my ivle posting for evo class. Heres where the original terrors came from:

terror, parasitism & altruism

just to share the very interesting life of a parasitic wasp, the Copidosoma Floridanum:

This wasp preys on the cabbage looper moth to lay their eggs, ala ALIENS. It typically injects 2 eggs (one male one female) into the hapless caterpiller, and then flies off. The larvae can take as long as a month to mature, devouring its innards while the worm is helpless to resist, and finally rupturing the host with a hundred eruptions. But what is interesting is this:

Among the eggs, they will divide into a whole clusters of secondary eggs, and some of these egg clusters develop into the 'reproductives'. These are tubby grubs (of both sexes) with only a siphon for a mouth to suck wormsoup and are so sluggish they can only move by being carried by the flow of the worm's blood. They eventually burrow out of the worm, form pupae and then burst open into adult wasps ready to seek fresh prey.
Some other clusters are much more interesting: they likewise divide into a cluster of eggs, but these egg clusters develop much faster than the 'reproductives', and become around 200 or so fully formed larvae within four days. These 'soldier' larvae are sleek, thin and muscular females, with tapered tails and sharp mandibles. They roam the worm till they find one of the tubes the worm uses to breathe, and wraps its tail around it, like a seahorse anchored to a coral. Its sole purpose is to kill other wasp larvae. Any wasp larvae that passes by, be it other non-sister/non-brother Copidosoma or other species, prompts the 'soldier to lash out and clamp onto the larvae, sucking out its innards before letting its corpse float along in the worm's blood. In a way, these ' soldiers' protect the 'reproductives' from competition and other threats, giving the 'reproductives' a better chance at survival, as they continue drinking worm soup while shriveled corpses of their rivals float around.

And as ruthless as these 'soldiers' are, they are also selfless. They are born without equipment for escaping the worm; so while the reproductives make their final exit and make themselves cocoons, the soldiers can only watch by, doomed to die as their host finally gives up and dies.
This altruism i believe, can only be explained by the fact that all the larvae are genetically very similar: by aiding their sister and brother reproductives, they help carry on the genes they share with them. Waht matters most is getting the genes transmitted. Even at the cost of their own lives.

(extracted from PARASITE REX, Carl Zimmer)

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Team America was lousy. Too much crass humor and too crude. Too southparkish. Watching 1/2hr of it is fine, but after that it gets really lame, really humorless and really bad. barbie dawll sex in 15 positions? ugh. Get james to watch it. The spoofs and repeat-a-jokes get annoying after a while. My opinion? Don't watch it. you'll be braingoo.
And help. My neighbour REALLY loves stuff like this. He's playing Dear Leader's 'im ronrey' over n over again, n now he's switched to really bad south park reruns. SAVE. ME. Jet for all the times i sent you the songs that give a mindfuck i apologise, i will never send you another if only bloody CARTMAN WILL STOP SINGING. Argh!

Speaking of mindfuck cuz's one helluva wierd warped er... person. Came over to raid me lappie for songs 'in the mood', as well as send me some. Songs as in ghei type songs, or more precisely, "super-shinobi-mindfucks-and-commits-seppuku" or the classical "space-monkey-with gold-ray-guns" kinda songs. Haha. pure crack. Borrowed Dear neighbour's portable hard drive to transfer the songs, n i didnt bother to delete em, i hope the songs can provide a little... 'education' to his music tastes, oh god ANYTHING BUT 'im ronery' from the Dear Leader!!! BEN I REGRET EVER BORROWING THE DISC FROM YOU!!!
*shoots fireballs*
Oh where was i? Yeah, cuzzie wants 'in the mood' songs for one of her projects, that which having the honour of possessing a title (roughly) as
"What kind of songs cause coitus interruptus".
Do not ask.
Do not ask.
Ugh.
Naruto's gay manga? thats what she told me. omgwtf.