Science and health writer Kathleen McAuliffe is our guest today in Episode 1132 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show.”

What if there were factors that went well beyond your genes that impacted the way you think, feel, and act? What if parasites are working intricately inside the bodies of animals that are then transferred to your brain orchestrating how you react to things, shaping your personality, and shifting your emotions dramatically? This is something that science and health writer Kathleen McAuliffe admits she's long been "obsessed" about investigating it thoroughly in recent years. Now she's taken all those many hours of research and decided to write about it in her compelling new 2016 book entitled This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society. This is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking books you may read all year!

Listen in as Jimmy and Kathleen discuss why she became interested in health and science writing, the role cats play in spreading parasites, the Toxoplasma gondii parasite and how it is the key agent in shifting the way animal and human brains works, the difference between gut bacteria and parasites, what the behavioral immune system is, the various behavioral defenses that rise up to counter parasites, the differences between animal and humans in how parasites make us act, and how parasites can actually be a direct contributor to your political and moral beliefs. This interview today is going to blow your mind and make you rethink why you are who you are.

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- Kathleen McAuliffe bio
- This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society
- KMcAuliffe.com
- Kathleen on Twitter