{"id":1098113,"date":"2023-01-19T18:26:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T23:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1098113"},"modified":"2023-01-19T18:26:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T23:26:25","slug":"meet-the-real-zombifying-fungus-behind-the-fictional-last-of-us-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1098113","title":{"rendered":"Meet the real zombifying fungus behind the fictional Last of Us outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"rss-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/lastofus2-800x527-1.jpg\" alt=\"A vivid visual imagining of what a Cordyceps infected human might become.\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\" style=\"font-size:0.8em\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lastofus2.jpg\" class=\"enlarge-link\" data-height=\"790\" data-width=\"1200\">Enlarge<\/a> <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> HBO&#8217;s <em>The Last of Us<\/em> provides a vivid visual imagining of what a <em>Cordyceps<\/em> infected human might become.  (credit: YouTube\/HBO Max)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<div><a name=\"page-1\" \/><\/div>\n<p>HBO&#8217;s new sci-fi series <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2023\/01\/kyle-and-andrew-dissect-the-last-of-us-television-premiere\/\"><em>The Last of Us<\/em><\/a>\u00a0debuted earlier this week and is already a <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2023\/01\/the-last-of-us-premiere-draws-4-7m-viewers-1235224124\/\">massive hit<\/a>. Based on the critically acclaimed <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2022\/08\/the-last-of-us-pt-1-remake-review-higher-fidelity-blood-sweat-and-tears\/\">video game<\/a> of the same name, the series takes place\u00a0in the 20-year aftermath of a deadly outbreak of mutant fungus that turns humans into monstrous zombie-like creatures (the Infected, or Clickers). While the premise is entirely fictional, it&#8217;s based on some very real, and fascinating, science.<\/p>\n<p><strong>(Minor spoilers for the series below.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2023\/01\/kyle-and-andrew-dissect-the-last-of-us-television-premiere\/\">first episode<\/a> showed us the initial outbreak and devastation. Fast forward 20 years, and the world has become a series of separate totalitarian quarantine zones and independent settlements, with a thriving black market and a rebel militia known as the Fireflies making life complicated for the survivors. A hardened smuggler named Joel (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with escorting a teenage girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the devastated US, battling hostile forces and hordes of zombies, to a Fireflies unit outside the quarantine zone. Ellie is special: She is immune to the deadly fungus, and the hope is that her immunity holds the key to beating the disease. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1910513#p3\">Read 11 remaining paragraphs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1910513&amp;comments=1\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: Ars Technica &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/?p=1910513\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meet the real zombifying fungus behind the fictional Last of Us outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enlarge \/ HBO&#8217;s The Last of Us provides a vivid visual imagining of what a Cordyceps infected human might become. (credit: YouTube\/HBO Max) HBO&#8217;s new sci-fi series The Last of Us\u00a0debuted earlier this week and is already a massive hit. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1098113\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,110],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-1098113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-technica","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-ars-technica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1098113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1098113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1098113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1098113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}