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Some of the most intriguing science fiction springs from eerie, real-life phenomena. Case in point, the mutant parasite in the video game series “The Last of Us.”
Creators of the franchise, which includes a show on HBO, got the idea from a type of fungus that hijacks the brains of ants and releases a flurry of lethal spores. (Both HBO and CNN belong to the parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)
In “The Last of Us,” the fungi can infect humans, snaking tendrils through their skin. No one can stop the spread of the disease as it spurs each host, bursting with mushroom-like fruiting bodies, to keep infecting others.
The actual fungus group Ophiocordyceps lives off a variety of insects — but the rest of the plot is pure sci-fi.
This week, a new find is shedding light on just how long mind-controlling parasites have plagued the insect world.
A glob of 99 million-year-old amber trapped a zombie fungus erupting from a fly, preserving one of the oldest examples of a fungal parasite hijacking an insect’s body before killing it. The fungus and its host likely lived alongside the dinosaurs.
The fly, as well as a second specimen of an infected ant in its cocoon, or pupal stage, shows the complexity of ancient ecosystems, in which fungal parasites could “prey on” insects, said Yuhui Zhuang, a doctoral student at the Institute of Paleontology at Yunnan University in Kunming, China.
Both amber-encased specimens could help scientists figure out whether the fungi are the ancestors of the parasites that enter the vulnerable heads of today’s carpenter ants.
Axiom Space Mission 4, a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, launched on Wednesday after an extended delay due to a long-standing leak issue at the in-orbit research facility.
Air has been slowly escaping through tiny cracks in a tunnel that connects Russia’s Zvezda module to a docking port for spacecraft carrying cargo and supplies.
The steady leak, identified in 2019, recently stopped, however, raising concerns that the entire space station is losing air.
Never-before-seen footage shows sun’s south pole
In a joint European Space Agency and NASA mission, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured never-before-seen footage of the sun’s south pole, which could help scientists understand more about how space weather affects Earth.
The first cosmic imagery from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has arrived — and it’s mind-blowing.
Taken with the largest camera ever built, the images and videos feature over 2,000 newly detected asteroids, millions of distant galaxies and stars, and details of stellar nursery nebulae that resemble colorful cotton candy.
This initial glimpse of Rubin’s capabilities — test observations from just over 10 hours — is only a preview of what the observatory will produce over the next 10 years: a cinematic view of the universe and how it changes over time.
Drone footage captured a distinct population of orcas in the Northeast Pacific’s Salish Sea doing something never witnessed before in marine mammals: using a tool for grooming.
Michael Weiss, research director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, spotted the Southern Resident killer whales detaching strands of bull kelp from the seafloor and grooming each other with it in a practice dubbed “allokelping.”
These kelp “combs,” which the orcas rubbed on each other for up to 15 minutes at a time, could serve two purposes: exfoliating dead skin and deepening social bonds.
Catch up on these fascinating stories:
— “Super coral,” which are naturally more resilient to environmental changes, could be the key to saving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Conservation scientists have already found dozens of these hardy species growing in a hot, acidic habitat.
— Routine dredging of a river in the Netherlands turned up an incredibly well-preserved, nearly 1,000-year-old sword decorated with spiritual symbols.
— Fossils unearthed in Colorado belong to a previously unknown dinosaur species about the size of a Labrador retriever that has long hind legs built for speedy running.
— Scientists say they have identified Earth’s oldest rocks in Quebec. The outcrop reveals details of an unknown chapter in our planet’s history.
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