Science Journalist Matt Simon on Body Snatchers, the Undead and 'Real-Life Zombies'

Halloween celebrates the gory and the grotesque. But according to Matt Simon, author of “Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World–and Ourselves,” the world is full of gruesome creatures year round. There’s the jewel wasp who manipulates a cockroach’s dopamine, turning its living body into shelter and food; the horsehair worm who grows inside a cricket’s stomach, persuading it to hurl itself into a body of water. And there are humans, about a third of whom may carry a parasite that’s linked to risky behavior and schizophrenia. We talk to Simon about nature’s body snatchers and and their grisly habits.