In this podcast, student journalist Taryn Pollock explains what the ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus is and why it is commonly called the Zombie ant-virus. Taryn Pollock is a student at South High ...

Ant (scientific name: Camponotus atriceps) infected with fungus (scientific name: Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato). The fungus forces the ant to climb off the forest floor and bite down on a ...

In the dense forests of South America and Southeast Asia, a parasite operates with chilling precision. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, often called the zombie-ant fungus, infects ants, invades their ...

Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers report that fossilized entomopathogenic fungi from mid-Cretaceous amber reveal some of the oldest direct evidence of parasitic relationships between fungi and ...

This photo shows the fungus “Ophiocordyceps unilateralis,” which looks like a stick with a ball in the middle, coming out of the dead ant’s head. (Photo by David P. Hughes, University of Exeter, ...

TL;DR: A new fungus, G. attenboroughii, discovered in Northern Ireland, infects spiders, causing zombie-like effects similar to the zombie-ant fungus. It alters spider behavior to spread spores before ...

Zombies are real – not in the walking dead sense, but there are parasites that can hack the brains of living creatures and force them to do things against their will, with the goal of spreading the ...

Long before humans walked the Earth, while dinosaurs were still roaming the land, a parasitic fungus hijacked the mind of a young ant. Insidiously, the fungus orchestrated the ant’s demise. The ant ...