🚀 go-pugleaf

I have for some time thought that social Darwinism was based
on a crude simplification derived from an even cruder simplification:

'survival of the fittest'

It seems, as we develop a more sophisticated understanding of
complex ecologies, that co-operation may in fact be the far more
important
organising principle.

I was reminded of this watching Attenborough when he made a passing
comment
that we are only 20% us.

By which he meant that the micro-organisms, bugs and bacteria with
whom we live in symbiosis (or are hosts to their parasitism, a form of
unconscious biological charity  ;-)  are the majority partner.  8^o

Now some of these critters we can't live without..   gut bacteria
for example, are essential to digestion... but I thought this was a good

forum to seek some clarification on two related issues:

Mitochondria..  I remember a sci-fi story that suggested these were
alien DNA sitting in the drivers seat of our cells piloting us all
toward
a civilization which would ultimately develop technology advanced
enough to return them home.   ;-)

If ever there was an opposite to anthropomorphism, that must be it.  B^)

My question is..  are these mitochondria truly 'alien' i.e., not of our
DNA,
but like the other 80% Attenborough alluded to,  'the other'

And what basically, is their function?


The other query is really a long shot.. I'm just hoping to encounter
someone with equally eclectic interests on this one..

At at friends farm while housesitting I sampled much of their bookshelf
of an evening, by the old pot bellied stove.

One story, (author and title noted but subsequently lost), described a
micro organism
which I found absolutely astonishing. (It was, I understood, a work of
non-fiction
of the genre.. 'strange but true').

It described a bovine parasite.  during it's lifecycle it is excreted
into the soil,
from there it passes into ants.
Now at some point in its lifecycle it migrates to the ants central
nervous
system, and causes it to climb to the very top of grass stalks!  8^o

>From there it has the best chance of being munched by grazing cows!!!

Now I understand the principles of natural selection.
I subscribe to the theory of evoluution..

but bugger me dead..  modifies ant nervous system in such a way as to
override ant control,  causing behavioral change which amounts to
turning it
into a vehicle for takeoff???

Q1  anyone else aware of this life cycle

Q2 Anyone know the name /  author of the book?

Q3 Anyone got similar stories.  (non-fiction preferred ;-)

Thanks

Che
-----
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 -Robert Frost "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"