Naturebang

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

NatureBang Podcast

BBC Radio 4 FM

Naturebang: Parasites and Personality

Parasites and Personality

BBC Radio 4 - Naturebang, Parasites and Personality

Who controls your thoughts and actions? You? Or the things that live inside you?

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight wonder who really controls your thoughts and actions? You? Or the things that live inside you?

If you think you’re in control, think again.

What invisible forces might be guiding your behaviour, your decisions, your most intimate emotions? Becky Ripley and Emily Knight take a trip into the bizarre nightmare world of the undergrowth, and watch ‘zombie ants’ stumble forward, blindly following the orders of the deadly fungi controlling their brains.  Parasites often get the upper hand of their hosts, manipulating their behaviour in sometimes horrifying ways. But is that true of humans too? Could we be unknowingly subservient to creatures that live inside us? Do they wish us well, or might they be plotting our downfall?

Featuring entomologist Dr David Hughes from Penn State University, and neuroscientist John Cryan from University College Cork.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Documentaries

Podcasts

Factual: Science & Nature

Making sense of what it means to be human by looking to the natural world.

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight make sense of what it means to be human by looking to the natural world... Science meets storytelling with a philosophical twist.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Naturebang

Parasites and Personality

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4