Mindsuckers: How Parasites Make Animals Harm Themselves - Carl Zimmer

Ladybugs are pretty bugs, with their bright colors and spots that capture the attention of children everywhere. But the good looking insects that play in our gardens are actually voracious predators munching on aphids. But even hungry ladybugs have to watch their backs, explains Carl Zimmer, as they're important vectors for a type of parasitic wasps that borrow their bodies and their less important organs to grow their larvae. Once the larvae burst out of the ladybugs' body, the colorful predators will then stand guard over the wasp cocoon until the wasp is ready to move out into the world. Zimmer describes a whole world of parasites that cause their hosts to display odd behaviors in the November 2014 cover story of National Geographic magazine, "Mindsuckers".