In HBO’s new hit video game-turned-TV show The Last Of Us, a mutated fungus from the genus Cordyceps begins infecting humans, turning the majority of humanity into zombie-like, cannibalistic monsters.
In reality, Cordyceps fungi do exist, and one type does infect certain species of ants, taking complete control of its host and dictating its every move. But how does this parasitic fungus work? And could it ever infect humans like it does in The Last of Us?
