The consequences of climate change are numerous, but viewers of HBO's The Last of Us might have been surprised to learn that it could lead to a post-apocalyptic world taken over by zombies that were ...

In the video game and HBO show The Last of Us, humans struggle to survive after an infectious fungus turns ordinary people into zombies. Creators of the franchise didn't look far for inspiration — the ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. The zombies are ...

The life cycle of Ophiocordyceps is like something from a sci-fi movie: “You think, where the hell did that come from?” A Ophiocordyceps species of fungi that has exploded from the body of a carpenter ...

An unsuspecting worker ant in Brazil's rainforest leaves its nest one morning. But instead of following the well-worn treetop paths of its nest mates, this ant stumbles along clumsily, walking in ...

Ophiocordyceps sinensis, known for its extensive use in traditional Asian medicine, grows in high-altitude regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This rare and expensive fungus has generated increasing ...

A parasitic fungus known to manipulate the brains of ants doesn't make slavelike "zombies" out of any old host. Instead, the microorganism is somehow able to recognize the brains of different ant ...

To find the world’s most sinister examples of mind control, don’t look to science fiction. Instead, go to a tropical country like Brazil, and venture deep into the jungle. Find a leaf that’s hanging ...

In the summer of 2015, at a scientific conference in New Hampshire, I was chatting with a biologist named John McCutcheon when an excited young Japanese researcher came up and introduced himself. His ...

The new species each specialize in parasitizing one species of fly found in forests throughout Thailand, according to a study. Photos by Mongkolsamrit S, Thanakitpipattana D, Noisripoom W, Tasanathai ...