'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)

Confidence interval simulation | Confidence intervals | AP Statistics | Khan Academy

Extraneous solutions of radical equations | Mathematics III | High School Math | Khan Academy

View All

Was Nero the Antichrist? | The Story of God

But why might early Christians have called Nero the Antichrist? Kim brings me to the very heart of the Vatican, St. Peter’s Square, to show me the answer. So, we know that the code 666 refers to the emperor Nero. Why? Emperor Nero was despised for many t…

15 Deals That Made Billionaires

They say that if you want to go fast, you should go alone. But if you want to go far, you should pick some great partners to share the journey with. The people on this list made insane fortunes because they chose the latter, and in this video you’ll learn…

Incentives for DROs not to go 'rogue'

There are two dispute resolution organizations or Dr. Alto and Tenna. Tenna and Alto have both been in business for a while. They’re both well-respected firms. Both have similar amounts of capital and similarly sized customer bases. They have mutual agree…

Pilgrims and Martian Explorers | StarTalk

A common analogy that people like to make is that if you are the first colony on Mars, that’s kind of like the pilgrims coming from Europe to the New World. You know, you’re not going back. So you’ve got your loved ones, your possessions, a competent ship…

3d curl computation example

So let’s go ahead and work through an actual curl computation. Let’s say our vector-valued function V, which is a function of x, y, and z, this is going to be three-dimensional, is defined by the functions, uh, and I don’t know, let’s say the first compo…

Heat capacity | Thermodynamics | AP Chemistry | Khan Academy

The heat capacity of an object is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of the object by one degree Celsius or one Kelvin. The specific heat capacity, which is often just called specific heat, is the heat capacity of one gram of a substanc…

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

More Articles