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tech-flying · 1 year

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The Real Zombie Fungus That Inspired HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’

Humans will probably never face a fungal apocalypse, but in the insect world, mind-controlling fungi can pose a serious threat

A virus quickly turns humans into ravenous monsters in classic zombie tales like The Walking Dead, World War Z, and Train to Busan. But The Last of Us, a new HBO series based on the same-named computer game, breaks a few rules.

For one, the human hosts that the pathogen lives in are not "undead"; they are still living. Furthermore, a fungus, not a virus, has infected them.

Additionally, the fungus really does exist. The makers of the game have claimed that a scene from the BBC's "Planet Earth" documentary series, in which a fungus takes control of an ant's mind, served as inspiration.

Of course, the show contains some fantasy elements. According to David Hughes, an entomologist at Penn State University who provided advice on the video game, the idea that a mind-controlling fungus could one day annihilate humanity is unrealistic. Kasha Patel of the Washington Post reports this.

However, other portions are motivated by actual science as well as theories concerning climate change and disease that researchers are currently debating.

Mycologist Matthew Kasson of West Virginia University says of the fungi in the programme, "It's not far-fetched for me."

According to Benji Jones of Vox, an Ophiocordyceps fungus infects a bullet ant in the "Planet Earth" clip that served as the game's inspiration. As the fungus develops inside the insect, nearly half of its body is transformed into fungus. However, it doesn't harm the ant's brain, giving it the ability to control how the insect behaves. The ant is directed by Ophiocordyceps to climb a branch, where it perishes. As the fungus develops from the ant's head, it may more easily disperse spores and infect additional victims.

According to Joo Arajo, a mycologist at the New York Botanical Garden, 35 species of Ophiocordyceps are known to affect insect behaviour, and scientists predict hundreds more are still undiscovered.

However, experts are not worried that these fungi may infect people. According to Charissa de Bekker, a researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands who specialises on "zombie ants," "they're very species-specific." And compared to these insects, humans have extremely different bodies.

Nevertheless, a couple of the show's themes still apply to scientists today. One is that human fungal infections are poorly understood and challenging to cure. Every time we breathe, we inhale fungal spores, although most of them are safe, according to de Bekker, who spoke to Vox. Few hundred of the 1.5 to 5 million species of fungi that exist, most of which are dangerous to immunocompromised individuals, cause disease in humans.

According to Kasson, fungi are more closely linked to animals than they are to plants. It's challenging to fight them without also fighting ourselves. Therefore, they must develop specialised kinds of substances that can eradicate the fungi without endangering the host.

Microbiologist Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University told Wired that "humanity should be investing more in knowing about what is the largest kingdom on the earth."

The Last of Us also makes the argument that the planet's warming temperatures played a role in setting the stage for the fungal invasion. According to de Bekker, most fungus prefer temperatures that are lower than those experienced by humans. According to the episode, as fungus adjust to a warmer globe, they might be more prepared to infect people. Researchers are

Ilan Schwartz, a researcher at Duke University who focuses on invasive fungal infections, tells Roxana Hadadi of Vulture that the claim that global warming has enhanced a fungus' heat tolerance is not absurd. It hasn't been demonstrated. It's just a theory, and things are moving along at a moderate pace. However, it is feasible.

One example is the theory that the fungus Candida auris, which threatens persons with compromised immune systems and is resistant to several antifungal medications, has adapted to human body temperature, according to the newspaper.

The University of Texas' Dimitrios Kontoyiannis, a mycologist, tells CNN that there is no need to fear because a broad fungus pandemic is unlikely given the way human infections propagate.

Schwartz tells Vulture that despite the show's concept, there are many more important issues in the world.

However, the present worldwide pandemic may make humans more vulnerable to fungi.

According to things like Covid-19 and other viruses, "maybe a larger section of the population will be immunocompromised, predisposing us to eventual invasion by these generally prevalent fungi," Kasson tells the Ringer.

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fallxnprxnce · 7 years

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He's loyal to his cause and to those he cares for. If you manage to get Nuada as a friend he's most likely gonna stick with you through thick and thin.

He is loyal to his cause, but one of the things I really enjoy exploring with Nuada on this blog (and something that sets me apart from other muns who write him, just judging by the number of anons I get saying that I mess him up by making him too sympathetic to humans) is the kind of situation or person that might shatter the illusions he’s built up for himself through denial, anger, and sadness with regard to the extermination of humans. Because think about it for a moment. Nuada is (my headcanon I know, but go with it) about two thousand years old. Just take a moment to imagine what that’s like. You can’t, can you? Nobody can. Because humans don’t live that long or even understand what experiencing that amount of time is like. To me, having the background of being of Irish descent and growing up with so many tales of not only mystical things but how everything in nature connected and also being a professional environmental microbiologist, the concept of eliminating a species as (for better or worse) important and integral to systems and functions of life and machines etc. all over the planet as humans are without expecting any consequences is just ludicrous.

Eliminating humans would cause the destruction in a few years to decades of many of our carefully maintained buildings, machines, and systems that are containing, monitoring, and controlling metals and organic contaminants that would otherwise be released into the environment. Yes, humans have caused destruction, extinction, and contamination of the environment, but without us to maintain our own infrastructure with regard to wastewater and hazardous/radioactive wastes, disaster is imminent.

Now, if I understand that in my short 36-year lifespan... why does a 2K-year-old elf not understand that? I have two theories: 1) he DOES....... and is just too blinded by sadness and anger to want to face those facts, and 2) he truly has chosen to isolate himself from human culture so much that he literally does NOT understand how much humans are actually CONTAINING more destruction than they are CREATING. At least at this point, heh. We might screw things up later, but you know... So... what I really truly love to explore as a Nuada mun is the kind of disillusion and destruction of his denial and isolation that might result in him understanding humans better and realizing that genocide is not only not the answer to his own people’s survival, but it actually will cause the extinction of many other races as well. But information is not the only barrier to Nuada understanding this. He is also cultivating denial actively...

The Nuada I saw in Guillermo del Toro’s vision was not one-dimensional, was not evil, was not emotionless... far from it. He actually felt so much that he was overwhelmed by it. His grief (and some may argue, like fans of the Tolkien fandoms, that elves can suffer mental and physical illness as a result of grief and strong emotion) had caused him to become morally corrupted and perhaps mentally unstable. That’s what I saw, that he teetered on the brink of madness but only because he cared too much and his emotions overwhelmed him. He was not mad, but close to it. And this extreme and isolated emotional state, without support in his exile, allowed him to live in his own world, which was very toxic to him because he could believe whatever he wanted and not be challenged. So I love RP threads that crack the isolation, shed some light into his darkness, as it were.

What I strive to keep going on this blog is the dialog between Nuada’s isolation and denial and those who would challenge it. I want him to meet humans that he will begin to see as real people and not just as a collective race. That will destroy the illusion of “the other.” For those unaware, there is a concept in war of “the other.” Your enemy. And to kill them, to commit atrocities you feel are necessary for the progress or survival of your own race, ethnicity, encalve, what have you, most sane people will dissociate themselves from their enemies’ humanity and engage in a behavior known as labeling them as “the other.” They become the faceless masses that you can collectively persecute or condemn because in your mind you reduce them to less than people. They are things or animals, but not sentient individuals. They are the enemy, one-dimensional, evil, nothing more than the opposite of everything you believe in. But no race is ever purely good or evil, and once a face is given to them, once you get to know them and they are no longer anonymous, that’s when it is not so easy to pass judgement on them as a group. I headcanon that Nuada definitely sees humans as “the other.” Different, evil, apart, separate, not at all the same or similar to him or his people. So I love when he meets other muses that are human or part human or sympathetic to humans, and he is forced to admit that not all humans are the same, and that some of them are kind, well-meaning, want to protect the earth too, or otherwise think similar things than him. It shatters his denial and since I believe he is an intelligent, multi-dimensional character, he will have to face the implications that these challenges to his denial will introduce. He will have to choose to trudge blindly on (which, being a very emotional character I don’t believe he would do) or he will have to think of another solution and admit that he is wrong.......... and GROW... and a character. Which to a writer.... is GOLD. =D

As far as him being a loyal friend.... yes. Yes, absolutely. And this is also a point of contention, I’ve noticed, among Nuada fans and other Nuada muns. Does he have honor? Absolutely. In my opinion. But not all agree with me. Some say he’s just an evil villain. I disagree. From a writing point of view, true villains do not believe they are the villains. They believe in their cause and think it is right. But beyond that, really great literary villains are not one-dimensional or skewed to the black or white extreme ends of the morality scale. Really great villains or anti-heroes or whatever are morally ambiguous. Because they should seem like real people, and real people are always a combination of good and evil. So in writing Nuada, I always try to display his good qualities in addition to his bad ones, and he does have a number of good qualities. He has his own sense of honor, which for friends and loved ones is very solid. He will die or kill for those he loves and trusts, but if they betray that trust, he will be very vindictive. He holds grudges like a champ, heh. But really, he has a deep heart, and those he lets into it, if they treat him well, are treated to his honor and love and devotion, be it a relationship or a friendship. Nuada is not an evil individual, I have always contended that. He is a complicated individual that does and is capable of evil acts. There is a difference. Any muse in a ship with him has seen how kind and gentle and devoted he can be, and it seems in stark contrast to what was seen in the movie, but I don’t know... maybe this is why I became a Nuada mun, haha... I feel they are all facets of the same deep, complex character, as any 2K-year-old elf should be.

Hopefully I am doing a good job? I try so hard, haha. XD

Am I doing a good job as a Nuada mun? I... really like to think that I am. As a writer of epic (lengthwise not level of coolness, haha) fantasy novels, I always strive for “realism,” that moment when you really feel that this mythical creature like an elf or whatever is actually of a race separate from humans. If an author writes him correctly, he will seem otherwordly, real. I want that so much for Nuada, and I try so hard. I think I fall short of the mark, but I try to get as close to it as I can, not just for you all, but because I love this character so much that I want to do him justice. =)

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