The brain of a goldenrod soldier beetle, that is.
Scientists are studying the effects of the fungus Eryniopsis lampyridarum on soldier beetles. When it infects the insects, they make a bee line for flowers, their usual food. It then prompts them to lock onto the plants with their mandibles. As the fungus multiplies, the beetle dies. After the beetle’s been a corpse for 15 to 22 hours, its wings pop open. Other beetles find this sexy and so take the moment to mate with the dead bug. Necrophilia, anyone? This spreads the fungus.
Imagine: if there was a fungus like this for humans, the infected person would run to the nearest singles hookup and latch onto a table with their jaws. Then they’d die. But they’d look alive. So alive that people would be game for a one-night stand. This would spread the fungal STD.
Or in a tamer example, a person who’d been dead for a day would suddenly sit up.
A zombie apocalypse doesn’t seem so far-fetched when you see nature…
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