Featured Image Credit: HBO / thelastofus/Instagram
If you've ever wondered what it'd take to start a zombie apocalypse then we might just have the answer, as the parasitic fungus that inspired The Last of Us is available to purchase for $110,000 per kilogram.
Fungus is one of the most fascinating aspects of the natural world, as it's capacity to feed on other things and resist otherwise inhabitable conditions makes it stand out as a fascinating occurance.
Scientists have discovered certain black fungus found at the nuclear disaster site in Chernobyl that feeds on radiation, and there's even 'zombie' fungus that hijacks bodies that could prove useful for us as humans.
The prospect of zombification and reanimation of dead bodies is often linked to the existence of fungus, as it takes over bodies as a 'host' to bring them back to life, and one of the most famous zombie-related stories has a real-life parasitic fungus at the core.
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The Last of Us - which you might know either from the Naughty Dog-developed games or the popular HBO TV show - portrays a world dominated by zombie-like 'infected' humans that have been taken over by what's called the Cordyceps brain infection, or 'CBI' for short.
Becoming infected with this disease in the games turns your body into a mushroom-like mess, and large parts of the world have also been consumed by the fungus.
As it turns out, this fictional disease was actually inspired by a real life parasitic fungus, as reported by Mashable.
The game's creative director Neil Druckmann observed the death of an insect by ophiocordyceps unilateralis - colloquially known as zombie-ant fungus - on BBC's Planet Earth, and became fascinated by the spread of this disease-like fungus and makes them, as the name suggests, almost like a zombie.
It also comes in a number of different forms, often differentiated by the animal that the fungus takes over, and one particular type found in caterpillars called cordyceps militaris or 'Scarlet Caterpillarclub' is actually available on the market and has a number of alleged medical benefits.
It's typically cooked in herbal soups as part of Chinese medicine, and can cost upwards of $110,000 per kilogram - so is one of the more valuable treatments on the market.
Allegedly, it eases signs of fatigue, improves your cardiovascular capabilities, and can even assist with diabetes and kidney disease, although these remain contentious.
"Just anecdotal, cordyceps supplments have been an absolute gamechanger for me," explains one keen commenter on Reddit. "When I'm expecting an intense workload, I take one or two capsules in the morning and I get sustained energy/concentration throughout the day. And I sleep fine. Pretty sure it's not a placebo effect."
That last sentence is where many have taken umbrage though, pointing out the powerful nature of placebo in how our body and mind react to taking certain medicines.
Regardless of its actual effectiveness though, it remains fascinating that a fungus that inspired a horrific zombie apocalypse might actually be helpful, or at least it thankfully won't necessarily start a horrifying pandemic.
This has also been theorized by the Yale School of Medicine, who explain that while you're not going to turn into zombie by taking fungal remedies, rising temperatures as a consequence of climate change could increase the dangers that come alongside it when dealing with immunocompromised individuals and antibiotics.
