Hair ice has appeared on rotting trees all over the world, and fungus may be to blame. Source: https://www.livescience.com/hair-ice-ireland-fungus.html
Tag: fungus
Newly discovered fungi turn flies into zombies and devour them from the inside out
Two newly discovered fungi eat flies from the inside out while dropping new spores out of holes dissolved in the living flies’ abdomens. Source: https://www.livescience.com/fungus-turns-flies-into-zombies.html
Leaf-Cutter Ants Have Rocky Crystal Armor, Never Before Seen in Insects
Leaf-cutter ants are named for their Herculean feats: they chomp foliage and carry unwieldy pieces, like green flags many times their size, long distances to their colonies. There they chew up the leaves to feed underground fungus farms. Along the way, the insects brave all manner of predators — and regularly engage in wars with other ants. But these insects are…
Skin-eating fungus from Europe could invade US, decimate salamanders
The Southern Appalachian mountains are a global biodiversity hot spot for salamanders. And now a skin-eating fungus from Europe could decimate them. Source: https://www.livescience.com/invasive-skin-eating-fungus-could-decimate-salamanders.html
Superbug may be spreading in hospitals overrun with COVID-19
The drug-resistant fungus can easily spread in hospital settings. Source: https://www.livescience.com/superbug-fungus-spread-covid19-hospitals.html
A Disturbing Twinkie That Has, So Far, Defied Science
Apparently Twinkies aren’t immortal. After discovering that his 8-year-old Twinkies “tasted like old sock,” biologist Colin Purrington sent them to a pair of scientists — Brian Lovett and Matt Kasson from West Virginia University in Morgantown — to study the kind of fungus growing on them. An anonymous reader shares the report from NPR: The researchers immediately thought some kind of…
‘Zombie Cicadas’ Are Under the Influence of a Psychedelic, Mind-controlling Fungus
Slashdot reader quonset shares CNN’s report on “zombie cicadas” under the influence of “a psychedelic fungus” called Massospora containing the chemicals found in hallucinogenic mushrooms (citing a new study published in PLOS Pathogens).
After infecting its host, the fungus results in “a disturbing display of B-horror movie proportions,” West Virginia University said in a press release. First Massospora spores eat away at…
Mind-controlling fungus makes zombie cicadas lure other cicadas to a zombie fate
Not only does the fungus Massospora infect cicadas, eat their bodies and turn them into mind-controlled zombies, it forces them to attract more cicada victims. Source: https://www.livescience.com/zombie-cicadas-lure-victims.html
Testing Chernobyl fungi as a radiation shield for astronauts
A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Stanford University has tested the viability of using a type of fungus found growing in some of the destroyed nuclear reactors at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant site to shield astronauts from radiation. They have written a paper describing their work and have uploaded it to the…
Mould from Chernobyl nuclear reactor tested as radiation shield on ISS
A radiation-absorbing fungus discovered in Chernobyl blocked harmful cosmic rays on the International Space Station and may help protect future Mars colonies Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2249784-mould-from-chernobyl-nuclear-reactor-tested-as-radiation-shield-on-iss/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…