José Ramón Alonso, author of the work Són els nostres amos i nosaltres els seus esclaus. Com els paràsits manipulen el comportament (‘They are our owners and we are their slaves. How parasites manipulate behaviour’), awarded with the 2022 “Estudi General” European Award for the Dissemination of Science, will talk with journalist Reyes Juan about the behaviour of parasites and, specifically, how the particularities of oxygen affect certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or dementia. The event will take place this Thursday 9 at La Gallera, Alzira, at 7 p.m. and is part of the cultural week organised for the new edition of the “Ciutat d’Alzira” Literary Awards.

The work opens a fascinating hypothesis, which is based on the idea that our mental illnesses, pathological behaviours or most tragic problems are not the result of a malfunction of the nervous system, nor the bitter fruit of a coincidence, but the specific objective of a manipulator. In this sense, the author proposes parasitism (a relationship between two beings in which one lives on top of or inside the other, generally at the expense of the second one) and that causes adaptations and changes in two beings that live in a metabolic dependence.

The author analyses these changes from the point of view of how these beings can also alter behaviour. “The work proposes a new approach within neurology, psychology and psychiatry, perhaps a new way to understand many diseases that we barely understand and a promising way for new treatments”, comments José Ramón Alonso.

Link to the cultural week here.

Book cover of Són els nostres amos i nosaltres els seus esclaus. Com els paràsits manipulen el comportament