This is an I-Heart podcast.

The fungus known as Ophiocorticeps may be the most famous fungus in pop culture right now.

I know, it's a low bar, but still, it's pretty cool.

The girl with all the gifts, the Last of Us, and a host of other books, movies, and video games

feature this behavior-manipulating fungal pathogen.

But what does it really do?

How do the zombie ants behave?

And what do we know about how the fungus hijacks ant behavior?

And yes, at the end of the episode, I'll speculate on whether ophiocorticeps could jump from ants to humans, hijacking our behavior along the way.

Welcome to Daniel and Kelly's Manipulated Universe.

Music manipulated universe.

Hi, I'm Daniel.

I'm a particle physicist,

and I like to think of myself as a fun guy.

You know, Daniel, you have made that joke before.

It's too good.

It is.

It is good.

It's good.

I'm Kelly Weiner-Smith, and I'm a fun gal.

There we go.

And today we're talking about how funguses make us friends or make us more fun.

...