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)

Everest Biology - Life is on the Rise | National Geographic
The Best Way To Launch Your Startup | Startup School

More Articles

View All
If You Have These 7 Traits, You’re in Your LAST Life Cycle
Narrator: Have you ever felt out of place, like you’re here but not of here? You laugh, you love, you play the part, but deep down something feels off. You watch the world rush by—careers, relationships, the endless chase—but it all feels hollow, like a g…
Warren Buffett: What Most Investors Don't Understand About Risk
Can you please elaborate your views on risk? You clearly aren’t a fan of relying on statistical probabilities, and you highlight the need for 20 billion dollars in cash to feel comfortable. Why is that the magic number, and has it changed over time? Yeah…
Simple redox reactions | Chemistry | Khan Academy
You have probably heard about this word: oxidation, oxidizing, or antioxidants, and stuff like that. But what exactly does it mean, and what can you do knowing about it? Well, let’s find out. Oxidation has the word oxygen in it; you can see that, right? …
Introduction to Gibbs free energy | Applications of thermodynamics | AP Chemistry | Khan Academy
Gibbs free energy is symbolized by G, and change in Gibbs free energy is symbolized by delta G. The change in free energy, delta G, is equal to the change in enthalpy, delta H, minus the temperature in Kelvin times the change in entropy, delta S. When de…
How Bacteria Rule Over Your Body – The Microbiome
Microbes are everywhere, on your phone, in your water bottle, on your hands before you wash them, on your hands after you wash them, and literally everywhere else on top of you too. Microbes are omnipresent at any moment, and there is nothing we can do ab…
Introduction to infinite limits | Limits and continuity | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy
In a previous video, we’ve looked at these graphs. This is y equal to one over x squared. This is y is equal to one over x. We explored what’s the limit as x approaches zero in either of those scenarios. In this left scenario, we saw as x becomes less an…