The cordyceps species in "The Last of Us," Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is real and does exactly what the show purports —just ...

Long before humans walked the Earth, while dinosaurs were still roaming the land, a parasitic fungus hijacked the mind of a ...

Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers report that fossilized entomopathogenic fungi from mid-Cretaceous amber reveal some ...

The mind-controlling “zombie” fungus, which served as the inspiration for the video game and post-apocalyptic TV show The ...

Sneaky chemistry by a real-life “Last of Us” Cordyceps fungus mind controls its zombie insect victims by convincing them they’re starving.

An ant and fly from the Cretaceous period offer insights into the history of Ophiocordyceps, the fungal parasite made popular ...

The mind-controlling “zombie” fungus, which served as the inspiration for the video game and post-apocalyptic TV show The Last of Us, emerged about 133 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed ...

In the real world, fungi belonging to the Ophiocordyceps genus infect ants and cause them to behave strangely. The fungi force their ant hosts to scale a plant to one of its tallest branches and ...

Science Real-life ‘Last of Us’ zombie fungus discovered — and it may have lived alongside dinosaurs Parasitic fungi have been with us since at least the Cretaceous period zombifying insects ...

Zombie-ant fungi are named for their ability to manipulate the behaviour of their insect hosts. Two newly described species of ancient fungi from the age of dinosaurs are now shedding light on the ...