yego.me
yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

'Zombie' Parasite Cordyceps Fungus Takes Over Insects Through Mind Control | National Geographic

less than 1m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Fungi and slime molds race to decompose dead matter on the forest floor. Many spread by releasing spores up to thirty thousand a second. (scary music)

If just one of these spores lands in the right place, and takes root, it can colonize a whole new area. (scary music)

But not all fungi feed on the dead. (scary music) Days ago, a spore landed on this ant, now she's acting strange. A network of roots has infiltrated her muscles. Her body has been taken over by cordyceps, a parasitic fungus. It floods her brain with chemicals, drugging her, compelling her to head where conditions are perfect. (scary music)

Just the right amount of light. Just the right amount of humidity for the parasite growing inside. It forces her to clamp down in a death bite. And cordyceps reveals its gruesome nature. (scary music)

After three weeks of growth, cordyceps can release its own spores. Infecting more ants. Releasing more spores. Infecting more ants. Releasing more spores. Infecting more ants. Infecting more ants. More ants. More ants. More ants. (scary music)

Cordyceps can wipe out entire ant colonies. But more than just ants are at risk. (scary music)

There are over six hundred species of cordyceps spread across the world. Most are found in jungles where they prey on a whole host of victims. (scary music)

Curvature formula, part 2
Moral realism doesn't help you (much)

More Articles

View All
How Elephant Families Communicate and Bond | Secrets of the Elephants
For the last 48 years, Dr. Joyce Poole has been eavesdropping on elephant families, learning their language. “I speak to elephants. I rumbled to them if they seem upset. I say hello and things. Their vocabulary is very large. Elephants have over 30 vocal…
Introduction to car buying | Car buying | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy
So, you’re looking to buy a car. So, I’ll at least tell you how I would approach buying a car. The first thing is thinking about what you can afford, and I would think about that before you even look at the types of cars you might want to buy. Because it …
Ample reserves regime | AP Macroeconomics | Khan Academy
What we’re going to do in this video is talk about some interesting things that have happened since 2008. In particular, we’re going to talk about what an ample reserves regime is but even more importantly what its actual implications are and how you can …
15 Books To Read After You Made $1 Million
So you made a million dólares, now what? $1 million isn’t what it used to be, but now you’ve got some finance and experience to go exponential. If you’re not there yet, we recommend you go ahead and watch part one of this series, where we handpick the vid…
Startup School Q&A Week 1
Okay, any questions? So the question was, have I experienced any different differences between running user surveys in person or online? Honestly, you’ll probably figure out what the best solution is for yourself. Online honestly gets a lot of it right. I…
You Can Do More Than You Think | The Growth Mindset
Probably most people know the story about the turtle and the rabbit, in which the rabbit laughed at the turtle because of his slowness. But to his surprise, the turtle challenged the rabbit to a race. Initially, the rabbit thought the turtle was joking, b…