Could the Cordyceps Fungus Really Take Over?

Credits:
Narrator/Writer: Stephanie Sammann

Imagery courtesy of Getty Images

References:

[nathanchappell]

I love that seemingly all of society is only now going through stages of fears that I went through back in 2013 thanks to the last of us

[stonysheep]

The reason why the zombies from Last of Us sound like they're crying or screaming in horror is because the people that are infected are aware of what they are doing, but have no control in stopping themselves from what they are doing. That's what makes this all the more terrifying. Imagine you rip apart your family and can't stop yourself.

[Scipiworld]

One of the craziest/scariest things about multicellular fungi: the nucleus of their cells can migrate. The mycellium structure connects the cells together and the nuclei will travel to where they are most needed. If a fungus encounters something strange like a substance that can't be broken down, nuclei will concentrate in that area to try and find one with a mutation that allows them to eat the thing. If they succeed, that nucleus proliferates. They basically stear their own evolution by committee and are profoundly adaptable as a result.

[Passarium-]

As an Ant Keeper, fungus infecting ants under my care, especially queens is a worst fear of mine. One time a Queen Ant I had was injured and exiled from her colony because of aggression from another Queen. A few days later, this fungus was growing out of her gaster. The Queen died and I just threw out her body in a testube. I haven’t had any fungus scares since. It still remains in the back of my mind all the time to make sure it never happens again.

[stijnvth]

The mind being untouched makes it even more horrific ... Imagine ... being controlled by a fungus but still having all your thinking capactity and being full aware of what is going on.

[stryykk]

what's so crazy about the prisoner inside its own body is that the developers of tlou actually payed attention to it and in one of the scenes when you're running away from the infected you can hear a zombie cry and say ''i don't want to eat you''

[phoenixyou]

If the fungus doesn’t affect the brain that just makes it so much worse. Imagine being fully aware that you’re about to die and your body is moving on it’s own while you watch helplessly.

[ginalawrence]

The fact that you can see the fungus tendrils coming out of infected ants’ mouths in some of these clips…the writers really did their research for the show!

[rajghosh]

I just realized, in the last of us, when you reach the part where Sam started wondering if the infected still had people inside them without any control of their bodies, I thought he was being delusional out of the fear of turning but he was actually making a lot of sense.

[andreste]

I usually scoff at the saying "fate worse than death" but a situation of losing control of body with your mind still intact and fully aware truly does seem like that.

[kempleton_is_cool]

The true horror factor is that, this is the most realistic zombie outbreak we could get

[madsgt]

After I watched the first episode of The Last of Us, I had nightmares about the fungus actually being able to evolve it was terryifying

[LaineyBug]

The fact that the ant is probably aware of what's going down is so much more horrifying than having it's brain taken over...There's a good twist on a zombie movie plot waiting for the horror genre right there...

[robinson]

This has scared me more this Halloween than all terror films I've watched

[matthewmitchell]

9:11 The image of that worm invading the snail's eye stalks, swelling them to many times their normal size, and then pulsating like that, is insanely disturbing.

[chillinyessir]

Just to let you guys know, even if cordyceps somehow manage to infect us and take over, the amount of energy required to completely overpower the brains electrical signals to the muscles and the exact amount of energy required to make it move would be impossible for it to do anything, other than weakening you. Combine with the fact you have a natural disease fucking system (immune system) and your body telling those controlled muscle cells to self delete, you should be fine. The most common symptoms of this would most likely be muscle weakness, muscle deterioration, muscle spasms and high fever. The human body is simply too built for something like this to work.

[theelephantintheroom]

Idk what's creepier; the fungus controlling the mind or the reality that it never touches the mind and instead builds a sort of brain that controls the body while the host's brain stays intact.

[carpemkarzi]

Well that’s the best and creepiest science I’ve ever actually wanted to learn more about.

[nathantiffen]

My biology teacher told me when I was in school: “The biggest threat won’t be an asteroid or war, it will be a virus or fungus that can’t be killed via the means we know of. And if that happens, good luck.”

[sammyhagger]

I definitely want a Hello Fresh membership that involves being sent mushrooms/fungi after watching this episode!