This nasty little fungus
has jumped from the screen into your life.
You've just eaten the deadly parasite spores
from The Last of Us.
This is WHAT IF,
and here's what would happen
if you ate the Cordyceps
from The Last of Us.
The cordyceps fungus has taken over
the world in the popular game,
and now TV show,
The Last of Us.
But how much of this drama
is based on reality?
Well, more than you think.
In South America,
these parasitic spores
have decimated populations of ants,
beetles and spiders.
In ants,
the cordyceps releases a neuromodulator,
a chemical cocktail that keeps the brain healthy
while the body hideously transforms.
Like in the show,
the fungus sprouts a fruiting body
that pops out of the insect's mouth.
The ants lose control of themselves
and viciously bite anything in their way.
Over time,
the fungus explodes out of the ant's body,
raining down spores and death
on the other ants nearby.
And then, the cycle begins again.
In the show and in the video game,
the fungal infestation causes a human's body
and brain to mutate.
The victims become blood-thirsty creatures.
The infected.
Some of the most terrifying of the infected
are the clickers,
who are more fungus than human.
These terrifying monsters roam the streets,
using their echolocation abilities
to hunt down fresh meat like you.
As the humans die,
they find a secluded area to release spores
back into the world,
just like infected ants do in real life.
But ants aren't the only species
to suffer from fungi like cordyceps.
There are fungal infections in humans
that can lead to deadly consequences too.
Fungus like Candida auris
have emerged as a growing threat to humanity.
This yeast enters the bloodstream
and causes severe infections.
The fungus resists drug treatment
and sends its victims to the hospital
for long periods of time.
And don't forget Ergot.
This fungal disease that contaminates rye grain
can spread gangrene in your arms and legs.
If you ate this fungus,
you would feel like you're on fire
and would suffer intense hallucinations.
In The Last of Us,
humanity meets its end by eating products
like pancake mix contaminated by cordyceps.
So if you ate the cordyceps fungus,
would you zombify like the ants?
Yeah, that would be unlikely.
The fungus hasn't adapted
to produce the same reaction
in every species.
Evolution would need more time
to create a strain of cordyceps
that would destroy humanity.
And considering that cordyceps
has been around for millions of years,
that probably wont be happening anytime soon.
I mean,
unless we turn this planet
into a hot house.
We'll get to that later.
In reality,
humans have been eating cordyceps
for a long time.
Chinese, Tibetan and Northen Indian cultures
have used the fungus to treat illnesses
in their traditional medicine.
In China,
they take the fruiting stalks
from dead infected insects to treat fatigue,
kidney disease and low sex drives.
Are you in the mood now?
Lab testing has shown that eating cordyceps
has positively affected animals
by treating chronic diseases like lymphoma and lung cancer.
But this stuff isn't cheap.
It'll cost you up to $18,000 per kg (2.2 lb) of cordyceps stalks.
So how is this safe to eat?
Well, your body generates too much heat
for this zombie fungus to turn you
into a mindless killer.
For now, at least.
As temperatures rise across the globe,
the fungus might, one day,
adapt to cause the mayhem
you love to watch every week.
So if you want to survive,
like Joel,
you may have to live without pancakes.
If you call that living.
But what if the cordyceps did wipe out humanity?
What if The Last of Us happened in real life?
Well, stay right here,
because that's a story for another WHAT IF.