Undead mechanism?

[Publius]

I See Men as Trees Walking: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, and the Horrors that Lie Between (http://stepsmagazine.ca/trainplants/index1.php?mentrees)

Here's a quote:

"Cordyceps fungi are specialized parasites, each species owing its continued existence to a different species of insect. Should a Cordyceps fungus' spores happen to land on a member of the correct insect species, a dramatic change will take place.

"The spores germinate on the insect's exoskeleton, working their way into its body through holes in the exoskeleton called spiracles, sprouting mycelia, the minute threads of fungal matter that make up mushrooms. . . . By and by, the mycelia grow into the insect's brain. At this point, the fungus secretes chemicals that cause the insect's brain to perceive certain relevant pheromones differently. Consequently, the insect is inexorably compelled to climb as high it can up the nearest plant, and clamp its mandibles firmly around some part of that plant. The partnership ends here, and the insect dies. Through gaps in its exoskeleton, mushrooms burst forth, showering spores down on any other insect of the host species unlucky enough to be present. The whole process takes four to ten days, depending on the species."

Well, the insect is still alive while its brain is taken over by the fungus, but this is still inspirational. ;)

[Mike70]

damn interesting. merited a couple of read throughs.

the caterpillar section had my creepy-crap-o-meter pegging out.

i found the section on using human genes in rice in order to produce proteins found in human milk rather fascinating.

thanks for throwing this out there.

[Yojimbo]

Creepy.

Reminds me of something I heard about some sort of virus (? or is it?) that lives in the intestines of cats which produce something that if eaten by a rat can cause a change in the rats behavior where the rat will supercede it's normal instinct to run away from the scent of a cat and instead will run towards it. I might have picked that up here on the boards, or on some random science show on cable, so this info might be bunk or legit -- I don't know. But if it is true, it is pretty freaky. Just think about what some randome fungus or virus might make a human do.

[major jay]

I See Men as Trees Walking: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, and the Horrors that Lie Between (http://stepsmagazine.ca/trainplants/index1.php?mentrees)

Here's a quote:

"Cordyceps fungi are specialized parasites, each species owing its continued existence to a different species of insect. Should a Cordyceps fungus' spores happen to land on a member of the correct insect species, a dramatic change will take place.

"The spores germinate on the insect's exoskeleton, working their way into its body through holes in the exoskeleton called spiracles, sprouting mycelia, the minute threads of fungal matter that make up mushrooms. . . . By and by, the mycelia grow into the insect's brain. At this point, the fungus secretes chemicals that cause the insect's brain to perceive certain relevant pheromones differently. Consequently, the insect is inexorably compelled to climb as high it can up the nearest plant, and clamp its mandibles firmly around some part of that plant. The partnership ends here, and the insect dies. Through gaps in its exoskeleton, mushrooms burst forth, showering spores down on any other insect of the host species unlucky enough to be present. The whole process takes four to ten days, depending on the species."

Well, the insect is still alive while its brain is taken over by the fungus, but this is still inspirational. ;)

Every life form will fight till the bitter end....and maybe even a bit longer.