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About Me
- Neal Asher
- Latchingdon, Essex, United Kingdom
- I’ve been an engineer, barman, skip lorry driver, coalman, boat window manufacturer, contract grass cutter and builder. Now I write science fiction books, and am slowly getting over the feeling that someone is going to find me out, and can call myself a writer without wincing and ducking my head. As professions go, I prefer this one: I don’t have to clock-in, change my clothes after work, nor scrub sensitive parts of my body with detergent. I think I’ll hang around. Contact: ndotasheratvirgindotnet
3 comments:
i always wonder when they do those shots of people gazing into the test-tube at the horror - a bit like on csi where they try and make forensics look interesting: "look i can see the evidence with my naked eye!" i digress however: this thing is remarkably specialised (stinging select parts of the brain against a struggling prey) and absolutely horrific, the worst part is the roach is alive till almost the end.
behaviour modification seems to be quite common in certain parasitical infections: Leucochloridium paradoxum put me off the concept of snails at a very early age.
still i wonder at something so specifically designed for reproduction and nothing else - parasites aren't likely to get intelligent anytime soon.
Hey, you gotta love snails:
"These snails punctuate their mating ritual by puncturing their partners with a calcified "love dart." You could call it a shot in the dark, because the animals can detect light and dark but can't see to aim the tiny "Cupid's arrow." Love darts are strangely common: 17 of the 65 families of terrestrial snails use them."
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