We have a weekend FaceTime session with our son and his family every week or two. During today’s session, I mentioned that we had seen the first episode of the TV series The Last of Us. He hasn’t seen it, but he knows about the computer game on which the series is based.
I mention that the Zombie Apocalypse in this TV series is not of viral but rather fungal origin. He’s an Infectious Disease specialist, and it’s the sort of thing that he will find interesting, I think.
He immediately replies, “Oh yeah, the authors of the game plot were inspired by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. I am momentarily stunned as the name of the fungus just rolls off his tongue.
You’ve probably read about the zombie ant fungus in Nature or Scientific American or some other popular science media. Hell, FOX news probably has a conspiracy plot based on this funky fungus. In the TV series, the fungus is referred to as the Cordyceps. I suppose the actual scientific name is just too much of a mouthful for some actors.
Anyway, we spent a bit chatting about the series and also about the actual fungus. “The fungal Zombie Apocalypse in the game starts in Austin, Texas,” he says. “Yep, and in the first episode of the series as well,” I answer. “Cool,” he replies. We both know that these kinds of Sci-Fi series are mostly shot in Vancouver, and we get a good chuckle out of that.
For the record, this series has fast-moving zombies of the type that we saw in World War Z and Zombieland rather than the more lumbering variety that are presented in The Walking Dead and its spin-offs. I find the frenetic zombies much more worrisome, just FYI.
If the fungus rolled off his tongue, I assure you it wasn’t Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.