It’s reminiscent of the X-Files episode ‘Ice’. A parasite (Toxoplasmosis gondii) manipulates behaviour, making rats suicidal, predisposing humans to schizophrenia or changing personalities – perhaps even producing those traits that lead you to read FT. And you probably have T. gondii lurking in your garden. Indeed, T. gondii’s been with us since our ancestors domesticated cats, its main host, 9,500 years ago. Even then, cats seemed to be more than rodent eradicators; they probably had mystical, occult significance. I would like to suggest that the parasite’s ability to change human thought and induce schizophrenia may contribute to both the cat’s iconic links with the occult and our shamanistic abilities.

T.