fungus Last of us He cordyceps. That’s how it’s called in the TV series and the video game, and that’s how it’s called in real life, although both have big differences. For starters, real cordyceps it doesn’t infect humans, but that’s another issue we’ve already talked about. At the same time, it is striking that neither the images in the credits, nor the appearance of the infected are based on cordycepsbut in slime molds (Physarum polycephalum).
But the most curious thing is that, despite the fact that this is a visible picture of a pandemic caused by fungi, slime molds are not a fungus. In fact, it can be said that this is no man’s land in terms of rankings. But the fungus, as defined, is not.
He commented on this in an article for Talk Macquarie University Researcher Chris R Reed. In it he talks about this difficulty in classifying the false fungus. Last of us, but also about some very interesting curiosities about him. For example, your ability study.
fungus Last of us it’s not a fungus
The first thing that distinguishes cordycepsreal fungus Last of usslime mold is that the first refers to Kingdom mushrooms and the second to protista. In fact, the protist kingdom is a kind of mixed bag that includes all eukaryotic organisms (with their DNA contained in the nucleus) that are not no animals, no plants, no fungi.
I must say that after the discovery of the slime mold, they thought that it was either an animal, or a plant, or a fungus, but everything was discarded. He is also known as multi-headed moldprecisely because they are able to form networks in which many heads communicate with each other. Like the infected Last of uswho can gather when one of them is in danger.
Also, like fungi, they produce structures that help spread their spores. It looks a lot like a fungus Last of usbut also his appearance, like some flower compositionconsisting of small yellowish blisters. The drawings they make on the ground are very similar to those seen on introduction to the series and the appearance of the infected in the later stages of evolution is largely due to the appearance of slime molds when we see them up close. Especially when they are attached to the wall.
He is smart and is good at mazes.
Slime molds, also known as “a drop” or “a dropmade headlines a few years ago for his ability to learn. It has been observed that if he enters a labyrinth, as it expands along the way, he leaves a slime trail that helps him know where he’s already been and find his way out faster.
In fact, they are so effective in this sense that some scientists are already drawing inspiration from them for their experiments.construction of trains and new telecommunications networks.
You could say they don’t have brains, but they use chemistry for that, as well as to detect substances that indicate the presence of a food source. In addition, it has been observed that if several food sources are placed, it is responsible for covering them all with the greatest amount. body possible, without division into several parts.
Almost as ugly as a fungus Last of us
In fact, despite their innocent appearance, slime molds can be a real nightmare for the fungus. Last of us. This is because it predator of micro-organisms, such as bacteria or fungi themselves. Therefore, it is a good subject to study not only for the development of telecommunications networks. Also as an antimicrobial agent.
In short, although the visible part of the fungus Last of us this is not a real fungus, it has some factors in common with them. And it’s no less scary than in real life. Also, as if all these features weren’t enough, it has up to 720 different genders. That is, there are 720 different conformations between which genes can be transferred from a donor cell to a recipient cell. Is not cordycepsbut deserves a small hole in the series.
Source: Hiper Textual
