Needed: A biologist who makes house calls

In Mississippi, a rumor started that a common chemical used to treat cattle for worms could prevent coronavirus.

Naturally, that’s the kind of rumor that would go viral during a pandemic. And that explains why a physician who is the state’s top medical officer was on television, pleading with people to lay off the cattle worming meds.

I liked the story, but only because it briefly got the government of Texas out of the headlines. Briefly.

It’s a profoundly depressing story, especially when you consider that Texas is bigger than Mississippi, with more cattle, and a bigger supply of worm medicine.

It’s also a reminder that there are limits to all explanations, including biological explanations.

Human beings have a tendency to fuel rumors. That behavior seems to be universal, part of our nature, part of what makes us human.

What’s the evolutionary advantage of that? What’s the biological explanation?