Although the idea of zombies comes from folklore and mystical traditions, there are real zombies in the world. Specifically, the cordyceps fungus that infects insects such as ants, kills them, and then drives their “reanimated” corpse around to find a place to spread spores to infect more insects. It is diabolical and creepy! But how does this brainless organism understand how to move the ant’s body? How does it know how to spread to other insects? We do our best to unpack what is understood and what might be happening.

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Links for Today:

• https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/how-the-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants-bodies-to-control-their-minds/545864/ (narrative description of the cordyceps fungus taking over ants)

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants/ (mostly images of insects infected with cordyceps fungus)

• https://youtu.be/XuKjBIBBAL8 (video documentary of the cordyceps fungus in ants)

• https://www.livescience.com/51764-wasp-spider-zombies.html (zombie spiders! When wasps plant their larva in spiders)

• https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/mind-controlling-wasps-enslave-zombie-spiders-build-them-perfect-nest/ (elaboration on wasps turning spiders into zombies)

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/08/zombie-flies-mind-control-fungus-animals/ (video of flies being zombified by fungus; gross)