The popular video game series turned HBO series, “The Last of Us,” is about a terrifying fungus that infects humans, turning them into zombies. This concept is based on a well-known fungus that infects ants and turns them into zombies, forcing them to crawl up onto the top of plants where they can sprout and pass the fungal spores on to spread even further.

While filming a documentary series inside a Victorian gunpowder store in Northern Ireland, a group of scientists stumbled upon another example of fungus turning animals into zombies. This time, the fungus infected a cave spider, forcing it to come out into the open, where it then died and transmitted its spores.

The group published a study on this fungus in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution. In the study, they reported that a novel species of fungus was able to infect a spider called the Gibellula attenboroughii, which was named in honor of the popular British biologist, David Attenborough. The spider is a cave-dwelling, orb-weaving species that typically stays away from people.

The authors of the study say that the fungus infects the brain of the spider and forces it to crawl out of its cave into more open areas. From there, the air currents can disperse the spores of the fungus far and wide.

When those spores come in contact with another of these spiders, they penetrate its skin and infect its blood. From there, it starts the lifecycle over again.

Once the spider reaches the open area that the fungus wants, it releases a neurotoxin to kill the spider so that it will remain in place. In addition, it releases an antimicrobial substance into the spider, which preserves its corpse so that the fungus is able to absorb all of its nutrients.

While horrifying, the authors of the study believe that this type of fungus may actually have useful properties that could be incorporated into medicines used for humans. Needless to say, they would have to make certain that the fungus was not able to infect humans in the same way that it does spiders.

Fortunately, all of the known fungi that turn creatures into zombies require a cooler host to survive. Even if a human came in contact with the spores, it would not be able to survive in the body to take control. Of course, that is just the case for now. In theory, it would be possible for these fungi to evolve to be able to take control over warm-blooded animals, including humans, just like what happened in The Last of Us.

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