How Cordyceps (Zombie Fungus) Infects Ants and What It Could Do to Humans

Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about the events from the recent TV show The Last of Us and whether it could actually happen. Can we can infected by cordyceps turning us into zombies?
Links:
#lastofus #cordyceps #zombiesurvival

0:00 So The Last of Us...
1:10 The Actual Fungus Zombies
2:10 Science Showing Us How This Fungus Infects Ants
5:15 Can This Happen to Humans?
6:30 Known Parasites That Affect Human Behavior
8:10 But Can They Turn Us Into Zombies After All? Conclusions

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[bcfortenberry]

I farm gourmet mushrooms for sale to restaurants and lots of my customers are asking questions about cordyceps because of the show. It’s a nice change from people asking me for psychedelics 😂

[TakoyakiStore]

Something that's interesting about most vertebrates is that their immune system seems to be uniquely resistant to fungal infections. The only exception seems to be bats. Bats had to evolve a unique immune system to handle the stresses of flying on the body otherwise the wear and tear of natural flight for them would put them in danger of autoimmune disorders (body overreacting to regular trauma upon the body). The end result is high resistance to viruses but very vulnerable to fungal infections such as white nose syndrome.

[Sanspepins]

The most interesting thing was learning that fungus can get a fungus infection

[Chill_Mode_JD]

I love the way Anton pronounces Psilocybin, stay trippy wonderful persons 😅🍄

[selador]

Sitting here wondering how many labs there are in the world that are right now working on ways for the cordyceps to cross over to humans...

[ChrisRaynorMD]

Great to hear your take on this Anton! It is great to see how we think about this topic both similarly and differently.

[kenziedayne]

Could it happen to us...because of us? I think so. We're doing amazing (and terrifying) things in bio labs these days.

[WowUrFcknHxC]

What is so scary is that this is something that really happens to living animals in the world. It must be horrifying to experience

[brucemurchiedean]

Anton you have the best science video's on the internet by far. Thank you so much for your content and please never stop. Personally you help me get through my hardships. This year alone your video's have help me to get through a very difficult break up with the mother of my children as well as eased the sorrow from not being able to see them. Whenever I feel down or if I'm having a rough day I just put some of your videos on and forget my troubles with some good old science and it helps so much I can never express how important it is to me in particular so again thank you for making our world (mine at least) more enjoyable 😊❤

[a_Bar_a_Day]

Thank You Anton. I have actually been wondering about this a lot lately. I appreciate you covering this topic. Blessings to ya.

[miltenignis]

A childhood memory of mine is related to that exact episode from planet earth. My dad and I used to watch it on weekends and then there was that one episode on the cordiceps... When the episode had finished, I asked him "Is there something like that infecting humans, too?" You can't imagine how glad childhood-me was to discover there wasn't anything like that. Thanks a lot for covering one of the more scary but also really fascinating sides of nature.

[Hongobogologomo]

Given the nature of this fungus, I think an actual scenario would involve infected people being compelled to access rooftops, particularly in cities, and then holding onto the edge of the roof and there the fungus will take over.

Itll be more like The Happening, or whatever that terrible movie was, where the plants made people throw themselves off roofs. There wont be zombie mutant cannibals, there will be absent minded people, who are essentially high on mushroom chemicals, going up on roofs and having seizures

[e.h.]

I'm so glad you played the game Anton! It's been my favorite for a long time, and I would say it's the only game that has made me ugly cry multiple times. It's really cool to get to share my love of the game w a whole new audience.

[clumsiii]

The Fifth Kingdom! Thanks for covering this - Mycelium and fungus are fascinating. Myco-remediation is a fascinating science, I bet you would enjoy those studies. Inoculated substrates are capable of removing many pollutants from waters and soils. Looking forward to the cat shit parasite vid haha

[trolly]

I’ve always thought of ways we could take advantage of such a scenario. If this fungus can replace and function as neurons, we could use such a fungus as a medium for transferring our consciousness into a more easily modifiable fungal mass, which would be much easier to connect to electronics and could survive outside of a body. It would probably need heavy genetic modification to not, you know, kill you in the way that matters.

[TonyPerez]

Oh man, tell me about it! I have been dealing with a fungi on my thigh that I caught in Costa Rica for the past three months. It has spread to 4-5 multiple places (I know what you're thinking you naughty thing it's all around my thigh though). Anyway, I am just glad I catched this video, I haven't felt any urges or anything so I think I'm good but then again, crazy people think they're not crazy... moving on, if you don't hear from me again, look me up hanging upside down from a tree or something. All kidding aside, I have seen dozens of wood-boring beetles infected with Cordyceps here in CR so It is not only ants and frogs, they look really creepy with yellow horns sticking out of their heads and thorax/abdomen.

[handlebarname]

Thanks for getting more in depth with this fascinating phenomenon. Have been curious about it ever since I first hear about it. In case you haven't already shared such a video, I'd love to hear about the symbiosis and potential health benefits of various fungi as well. Sometimes they get a bad rap, but they are pretty amazing and beneficial to humans and many ecosystems overall as well.

[fickrett]

Very cool getting to know Anton Petrov watched Markiplier

[minorityofthought]

I'll come back tomorrow to learn something more. Thanks Anton.

[nuance]

Would be interested in a video discussing Tinea Corporis or Tinea Pedis.

Those funguses definitely do something with nerve cells and behavior. Our skin seems fairly vulnerable to fungal infections