▲ 153 ▼ Worm that jumps from rats to slugs to human brains has invaded Southeast US (arstechnica.com) submitted 2 years ago by stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to c/news@lemmy.world 21 comments fedilink hide all child comments Multiple rats in Atlanta test positive for calamitous, rapidly spreading parasite.
[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago (2 children) Just wait until fungus evolves to be perfectly fine living at 98.6°F permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* just wait 'till the Zombie Fungus jumps into humans... *fuck. I just read the article and... : Medicinal potential Ophiocordyceps are known in the pharmaceutical world to be a medically-important group.[7] O. unilateralis fungi produce various known secondary metabolites, as well as several structurally uncharacterised substances. These natural products are reportedly being investigated as potential leads in discovery efforts toward immunomodulatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypocholesterolemic targets.[24] In an Ophiocordyceps species within Japanese cicadas, the Ophiocordyceps replaces the symbiotic bacteria within the cicadas to help the host process sap as nutrients, unlike other related species, such as the Ophiocordyceps sinensis, which is a traditional immune booster and cancer treatment in Tibetan and Chinese culture.[25] And here I thought releasing the cannibal ants was a bad idea... permalink fedilink source parent [–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago Oh they're here, there's plenty of fungus that can live inside us. They've been here a long time though, fungi are aaaaadaptable. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* just wait 'till the Zombie Fungus jumps into humans... *fuck. I just read the article and... : Medicinal potential Ophiocordyceps are known in the pharmaceutical world to be a medically-important group.[7] O. unilateralis fungi produce various known secondary metabolites, as well as several structurally uncharacterised substances. These natural products are reportedly being investigated as potential leads in discovery efforts toward immunomodulatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypocholesterolemic targets.[24] In an Ophiocordyceps species within Japanese cicadas, the Ophiocordyceps replaces the symbiotic bacteria within the cicadas to help the host process sap as nutrients, unlike other related species, such as the Ophiocordyceps sinensis, which is a traditional immune booster and cancer treatment in Tibetan and Chinese culture.[25] And here I thought releasing the cannibal ants was a bad idea... permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago Oh they're here, there's plenty of fungus that can live inside us. They've been here a long time though, fungi are aaaaadaptable. permalink fedilink source parent