In an era where some find fake news around every corner, the use of sensationalism has inevitably found its way into the scientific literature. This is especially the case for host manipulation by parasites, a phenomenon in which a parasite causes remarkable change in the appearance or behaviour of its host. This concept, which has deservedly garnered popular interest throughout the world in recent years, is nearly 50 years old. In the past two decades, the use of scientific metaphors, including anthropomorphisms and science fiction, to describe host manipulation has become more and more prevalent. It is possible that the repeated use of such catchy, yet misleading words in both the popular media and the scientific literature could unintentionally hamper our understanding of the complexity and extent of host manipulation, ultimately shaping its narrative in part or in full. In this commentary, the impacts of exaggerating host manipulation are brought to light by examining trends in the use of embellishing words. By looking at key examples of exaggerated claims from widely reported host–parasite systems found in the recent scientific literature, it would appear that some of the fiction surrounding host manipulation has since become fact.

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当虚构成为事实：夸大寄生虫对宿主的操纵

在一个到处都有假新闻的时代，耸人听闻的使用不可避免地进入了科学文献。寄生虫操纵宿主的情况尤其如此，寄生虫导致宿主外观或行为发生显着变化的现象。这一概念近年来在全世界引起了人们的广泛关注，已有近 50 年的历史。在过去的二十年里，使用科学隐喻，包括拟人化和科幻小说来描述宿主操纵变得越来越普遍。流行媒体和科学文献中反复使用这种引人入胜但具有误导性的词语可能会无意中妨碍我们对宿主操纵的复杂性和范围的理解，最终部分或全部塑造其叙事。在这篇评论中，通过检查修饰词的使用趋势，揭示了夸大宿主操纵的影响。通过查看近期科学文献中广泛报道的宿主 - 寄生虫系统的夸大声明的关键例子，似乎一些围绕宿主操纵的虚构已经成为事实。