Weird Science obsesses about our immune system’s compulsions

Obsessive compulsive on the cellular and organismal level, via strep throat: In some ways, an autoimmune disease is a bit like an obsessive compulsive disorder, with the immune system getting so keyed up to clean up an infection that it starts going after anything that even looks like the original invader. But now there’s an indication that some cases of obsessive-compulsive behavior are the result of an autoimmune disease. Apparently, streptococcal infections (think strep throat) can leave their younger victims suffering from tics and other obsessive-compulsive syndromes. A recent paper describes how inoculations with strep bacteria could trigger an analogous set of symptoms in mice. Apparently, the same symptoms could be transferred to new mice simply by injecting them with antibodies isolated from the first, indicating the involvement of an immune response. Weird on many levels.

A vicious Facebook cycle: The title of this paper about says it all—”More Information than You Ever Wanted: Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealousy?” The only thing that’s missing is the answer, which is a statistically significant, personality controlled, and hierarchically regressed “yes,” at least when it comes to college undergraduates. The authors speculate that it’s a bit of self-reinforcing process. Anyone who’s prone to use Facebook will obviously use it to check out their new partner, come across notes and photos that are probably ambiguous (or evidence of past relationships that’s not), get a bit jealous, and start searching for more details.