Reality Check - Is the Last Of Us Killer Fungus Real?

Ah who cares anyone with a brain knows that humans isn't gonna be here forever just look at history dinosaurs got wiped out and so on just a matter of time before humans are to plus if you're smart enough to know earth is gonna be no more thanks to humans pollution.

I'm starting to love this show.

thanks for the reality check! very unlikely is not impossible though.... :)

There are several known types of parasites that alter the behavior of their hosts, often to encourage them to be eaten by the target host in which the parasites can reproduce. (These were alluded to in Resident Evil 4.) What wasn't alluded to was the fact that there is such a parasite that infects humans! Toxoplasma gondii reproduces in cats (and lions, tigers) and will infect the brains of animals eaten by cats (including humans!) and make them behave recklessly so they will be more likely to be eaten by cats. Toxo-infected people have been scientifically shown to have altered personalities, such as men being more aggressive, women being more intelligent, and everyone being more likely to be in car accidents.
What's really scary is that about half of US citizens are infected in their lifetimes (permanently), for example. (90% of French citizens by age 20!)
Risk factors are eating undercooked meat and owning cats (spread by their feces). If a pregnant woman is infected for the first time, the parasite can kill the baby or cause severe birth defects. That's why doctors tell pregnant women to avoid cats!

Cam Robinson? you freaking rock! this show is AMAZING!!!! i hope you continue this show and make more episodes

There is a very similar video on Vsauce3. It just gives a slightly darker outlook on the possibility of an epidemic.

I'm really enjoying this Reality Check show.

If this happened, It would definitely make life a little more entertaining...then I could say "there's a fungus among us!"

great video, very interesting indeed.

But to cause aggression in such a specific way it'd fit a "zombie" stereotype would require an extremely complex fungus to only attack specific portions of the brain at slow enough rates. Even if we tried to develop such a fungus, it would be extremely difficult and would take a very long time to do.

wtf

How the heck did people get HIV from monkeys? did some one just roam through Africa f****** every monkey he could find?

fuckin cool

u the man cam

excellent video. everything you said cam is right there, thanks

I appreciate it when authors take some time to do research for a piece, however informal or brief it may be. I had no idea who Daniel Kish was before this video. Thanks!

Great video. Thanks.

I don't care if Cordyceps isn't (so far) a threat to humans, the fact that this kind of substance exists naturally scares the crap out of me. I've known of Cordyceps' influence on The Last of Us for some time, but I simply can't get over how Mother Nature can create something so ingenious. It terrifies me as to what else she may have hidden in her repertoire.

Good video.

I've seen that same documentary on the Cordyceps fungus before, and when you think about it is probably the closest real-life thing we have to a mind-controlling virus, and in that same documentary David Attenborough talks about how there are several different strains of Cordyceps, each of which targets a specific species of insect/arthropod in the Amazon in order to keep its population numbers in check, and warns that the more numerous a species becomes the more chance it has of falling victim to the Cordyceps.

Maybe that's why it jumped to humans in The Last of Us- we had become too numerous...

Loving this series.... Third week watching this and each episode is great. A lot of food for thought. Great job Gamespot. Keep em coming!

Brilliant new series Cam, keep it up!

nice video..keep it up

Interesting

the zero punctuation of the last of us was too much funny.

I love this show. Keep it up man.

Google Toxoplasma Gondii. It is a parasite that infests the brain and can cause mental disorders like schizophrenia.

Humans get it from cats.

How come no two people can pronounce "fungi" the same way?

While the idea of 'zombie' like creatures is never going to seem scientifically viable to me (infected or not you are not going to withstand being shot more than anyone else who isn't infected), it is interesting to explore the chance of a mind altering infection hitting us in a way that could mirror the behaviour of zombies.

Something I thought might be brought up by this video but wasn't is toxoplasmosis (look it up). Effectively it is a parasite that wants to be in cats, but infects everything. When it infects a rat it is able to alter the rat's instincts to keep away from cats and effectively increase its chance of being transmitted to a cat by getting the rat eaten. It is also thought to be linked with several mental illnesses in humans showing that a mutation in the strain could possibly lead to psychosis for humans and lead to a zombie like epidemic. Unlikely, but still not impossible :)

considering this is a video game web site that is some pretty interesting and informative stuff - well done, keep it up!

While the idea of 'zombie' like creatures is never going to seem scientifically viable to me (infected or not you are not going to withstand being shot more than anyone else who isn't infected), it is interesting to explore the chance of a mind altering infection hitting us in a way that could mirror the behaviour of zombies.

Something I thought might be brought up by this video but wasn't is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

Effectively it is a parasite that wants to be in cats, but infects everything. When it infects a rat it is able to alter the rat's instincts to keep away from cats and effectively increase its chance of being transmitted to a cat by getting the rat eaten. It is also thought to be linked with several mental illnesses in humans showing that a mutation in the strain could possibly lead to psychosis for humans and lead to a zombie like epidemic. Unlikely, but still not impossible :)

this is a pretty good show

Cam is my new Bill Nye the science guy! These videos are great content and I wouldn't mind seeing more.