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HBO’s new sci-fi series Last of Us debuted earlier this week and is already a smash hit. Based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name, the series takes place 20 years after him in a deadly outbreak of a mutant fungus that turns humans into giant zombie-like creatures (infected, or clickers). It is done. The premise is completely fictional, but based on very real and fascinating science.
(A few spoilers for the series below.)
The first episode showed the initial outbreak and devastation. Fast forward 20 years and the world has become a series of separate totalitarian quarantine zones and independent settlements, with a thriving black market and rebel militias known as the Fireflies complicating the lives of survivors. A hardcore smuggler named Joel (Pedro Pascal) sends her teenage girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a devastated America fighting hostile forces and hordes of zombies into a quarantine zone. I am tasked with escorting the firefly unit outside. Ellie is special. She is immune to the deadly fungus, and it is hoped that her immunity holds the key to defeating the disease.
The basic premise of the fictional pandemic is neatly placed in Cold Open. In 1968 he appeared on a talk show with two epidemiologists as guests. dick cavett show, discussing the possibility of future pandemics. One cites viruses (specifically airborne viruses such as COVID-19) as a threat to keep him up at night. Already one of them (played by one of my favorite British actors of his, John Hannah) goes on to make a very convincing case, claiming that the real threat comes from fungi.
As Hannah’s Dr. Neuman explains, there is actually a family of zombifying parasites. cordycepsThere are over 400 species that target specific species of insects, including ants, dragonflies, cockroaches, aphids, and beetles. In fact, the game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann said, Last of Us Inspired in part by an episode of the BBC nature documentary earth (Narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough) It depicts the ‘zombification’ of ants in vivid detail.
First, the fungus invades the host’s exoskeleton and brain via airborne spores that fall to the ground. When a foraging ant encounters a spore, the spore attaches to the ant’s body and burrows inside. Once inside, the spores grow long tendrils called mycelium that eventually reach the brain and release a chemical that turns the unfortunate host into a fungal zombie slave. The fungus then slowly eats the host, sprouting new spores all over its body as a final resentment. It releases many spores into the air, which infect even more unsuspecting hosts.
Much of this is consistent with the following assumptions: Last of UsDr. Neuman told the audience that although the fungus appears harmless, cordyceps He mentions certain fungal-derived hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, derived from ergot).
As Neumann’s fellow epidemiologist points out, cordyceps It may be real, but fungi don’t target humans. Neuman agreed, adding that this is because the fungus cannot survive if the host’s body temperature exceeds his 94°F. cordyceps For several years. (He also consulted developer Naughty Dog. Last of Us “Insects exploit this fact by inducing behavioral heat to reduce infection,” he told Ars. “But going to hot areas reduces fungal growth.”
