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)

Bank balance sheets and fractional reserve banking | APⓇ Macroeconomics | Khan Academy
KAMALA REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE!

More Articles

View All
How to Make a Delicious Meal For Under $10 | Chef Wonderful
Who made this? Oh, I did! Wow, I’m gonna cry. It’s a masterpiece that should get an Emmy, that should get a Tony, all of it. And that still wouldn’t be enough for what that was. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Chef Wonderful here! Let’s talk about suffolak…
Rare Ghost Orchid Has Multiple Pollinators | Short Film Showcase
The swamp itself is steeped in mystery, holding a wildness that is so increasingly rare in modern life. There’s this very like ghost-like thing dancing off the edge of a tree; it just deepens the mystery. It deepens the power of those places. There’s just…
Price Discrimination: Charge Some People More
Are there any other microeconomic concepts outside of zero marginal cost of replication and scale economies that you think are important for people to understand? I think price discrimination is an important thing to understand. What it means is that you…
Guardians of the Okavango | National Geographic
I’m a guardian of the guardians. I feel a duty to protect these guardians from what is the outside world, encroaching. I work within the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project as the community liaison with the people living in these Angolan highl…
What Happens if the Moon Crashes into Earth?
Today we are answering an age-old, very scientific and important question: What if the Moon crashes into Earth? It’s more interesting and weird than you probably think. Let’s start with the basics. Why isn’t the Moon on its way to crash into us? Already,…
Would You Trust This Corporation?
Imagine being told that the key to social justice is to set up a gigantic Corporation, much larger than any other. This Corporation would have trillions of dollars in revenues. It would have a monopoly on some extremely important market and use that to ex…