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



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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:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4174324/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19827944/?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4174324/
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/coccidioidomycosis/index.html
#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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Images/Videos:
https://thelastofus.fandom.com/wiki/Clicker Fair Use
BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8
David P. Hughes, Maj-Britt Pontoppidan – https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article? CC BY 2.5
Lenapcrd CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis#/media/File:Ant_behavioural_manipulation_by_O._unilateralis.png
Midjourney CC BY SA 4.0 https://midjourney.com/
Hammel/Lauströer https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientists-extinct-ant-species-encased.html
NIAID – https://www.niaid.nih.gov/ – @ flikr -CC BY 2.0
Ke Hu and John M. Murray https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toxoplasma_gondii.jpg CC BY 4.0

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42 thoughts on “How Cordyceps (Zombie Fungus) Infects Ants and What It Could Do to Humans”

  1. I absolutely loved this video. You would make an amazing science teacher. Having only one hour of biology, so hardly any mention of parasites and different kinds of fungi, a week is so sad. Thank you so much for making this video!

    Reply
  2. I reckon the flora, in human guts have far more influence on people’s respective personalities, and behavioral characteristics, than most people can either fathom, or would be comfortable admitting to themselves, or others. Scientists, or otherwise. I reckon most complex organisms have some sort of symbiotic relationship with another organisms, living inside them, compelling them to modify their behaviors to suit it. Matter of fact, I’ll take it a step further, and surmise that all of human civilization, is an elaborate and unwitting meta, to facilitate the proliferation of anaerobic alcohol producing yeast. I think we’re already there, brah. 😂

    Reply
  3. im sure we will at some point figure out theres some sort of religion funghi. that makes people seek out places of holy worship and become really belligerent towards anyone that thinks this is foolish

    Reply
  4. 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.

    Reply
  5. I'm really looking forward to your announced "T. gondii vid"! The effects I've read about so far are absolutely mesmerizing. However, as you noted, knowledge of the effects of toxoplasmosis on humans is still very limited. …
    The Cordyceps vid was, like usualy, very good !

    Reply
  6. Anton drop it! Do you really want to go this way? Science is way moore exiting…. The only reason for you to make fear-based fantasy-otopias is if you where paid or forced to do..No one needsto worry about such nonsens, it takes over 400 mutations for a virus to be able to go frrom animal to human… why speculate in this? shouldnt you inform the public of the poleshift and the comming micronova….its time—we ve got 10-15 years….

    Reply
  7. Now that it's a popular science fiction concept, you know some person will try to make it real with genetic engineering. This video just made that outcome more likely. I'll admit, it was entertaining. Good luck future hosts.

    Reply
  8. I met a cute single mom and thought she was nice. She didn't tell me she was carrying a fungus until it was too late. It DEFINITELY affected MY behavior. It got so bad I had to have surgery. I was growing a second appendage down there. Drs say the surgery cured me, so I guess I was lucky over all. Now whenever I see anything phallic, it reminds me of that baby's arm holding an apple that the surgeons excised from my body.
    I'd like to say I learned my lesson, except that bar skagg I took home a few months ago. That was the last time though. I made myself promise myself. No more strummpets from the bars.

    Reply
  9. You did not deny the possibility of artificial ones so yeah it will happen. Unfortunately sooner or later that will happen where someone will make something to hack the brain and turn us into zombies

    Reply
  10. First I was excited, Anton talking about one of my favorite games. So I put this video on to wind down before going to sleep but then the premise started disturbing me too much, it made it too real. I’ll watch tomorrow.

    Reply
  11. Very good video. Thanks Anton. Maybe it's a fungus that is responsible for the behaviour of many politicians and corporate oligarchs. If found, we should have a competition to name it.
    I nominate: Politicozombis vulgaris.

    Reply
  12. Very creepy – how that fungus makes the ants all end up doing the same thing before they die. Very very creepy… The universe is full of surprises. Never underestimate the things that could happen to humans yet rememver: never underestimate humans… Sounds like Anton is looknig for excuses to play games then he calls himself behind schedule with it – lol. Have fun.

    Reply
  13. i've sorta given up game playing cos it's just too complicated to set up accounts and figure out downloads, i'm a "give me a cd and put it in my PC" sort of person, but what i have been doing is watching other people play on youtube and "last of us" i have watched more than once.

    by all accounts the series being televised is having good reviews, but please people, either buy the game or watch the game online, first if you can, cos it is extremely well done. the game play taken on it's own isn't a lot better than any other game, in my opinion (for whatever thats worth) but the story line is what had me hooked. the characters are 100% convincing, the dialogue is 90% convincing, the story is 100% cleverly put together. it's one of a very few games where i've cried because the "message" is about the futility of revenge and how it just eats away at people who should in essence be remarkably kind and caring – but they gut turned into ghouls.

    can't recommend the game enough, last of us and last of us part 2 have to be played back to back.

    Reply
  14. You say if this could happen to more advanced lifeforms it would have already. But maybe the fungus hasn't evolved in the right way YET. If you turn up all zombified with mushrooms growing out of your head, I expect a follow-up video. If you can make the video before biting down on a tree limb.

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  15. I've noticed a lot of other videos talking about similar subject lately, but I havn't watched them until I saw that Anton made a video and I know that the topic will be covered well. Alright let's go !!

    Reply
  16. Mmmmm, I disagree with your logic that if it could happen, it already would have. It didn't need to or have any "desire" to do so.

    Nothing on this planet likes to change once it has found a place to settle. It takes effort and energy, and even we humans hate change. But were all pretty good at adapting over time, some things can adapt more quickly, while others are more slow, and depending on the changes in environment, that can lead to extinction.

    Humans we're never as many as we are now, nor were we as far spread as we are now. We don't rival ants, but we do exist nearly everywhere in a large number.

    All it takes is one mutation coming from it needing to evolve or the change was opportunistic, or some asshole created a variant in a lab. And honestly, it would not be terribly difficult to get the fungus over a few generations to at least grow to some extent within the body.

    All the fungus really needs to do is develop a chemical that can either kill our immune cells or tell them That everything is all fine here. Will it create clickers? Most likely not, but if the fungus could replicate the stages of growth fr within the ant to humans, it would be pretty fucking bad to say the least.

    Reply
  17. The cordycepts virus is too specialized into ants to transfer. It's so specialized that it can't infect other species. Even with the infection vector, it is detected by the colony and removed, so it must place itself along a colony route instead.

    Reply

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