Latest news with #Cordyceps
Buzz Feed
a day ago
- General
- Buzz Feed
57 Wildly Unsettling Photos That Made Me Go "Nope!"
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!! I think the devil may be within this person. Brown recluse spiders are venomous, btw. NO THANK YOU!!! Say it with me: Nooooooooooooooo. Me rn: Time to move!!! Without packing any of your things!!! Just go!!!!! I can't decide if it's worse or better if this woman is a ghost versus a person. Yeah, I'll pass, but thanks. No money in the world would be enough for this job. I also would not take this high-rise AC maintenance job. No, I don't think it is!!!!!! I guess I'm never shopping at Amazon again! Great, now I have a new fear! This to watch. I really don't like that this exists. :( Or this. This is the cassowary, the world's most dangerous bird. It can grow as big as six feet tall and jump seven feet into the air. Yikes. Imagine if the horse spooks and starts running!!!! I'm sorry, a sewer WHAT???? Imagine those pincers on your...(I'm not going to finish that sentence). Am I the only one who was constantly scared as a kid that animals would crawl up the pipes and bite me as I was pooping? Apparently, I had good reason to be. This is a different kind of scary, but it's still terrifying. Guess I'll be taking the stairs next time. Apparently, escalators are a lot more dangerous than I thought. I'd still rather take one of those escalators than this elevator. Here's a gif where you can see it better. Did I mention I'm scared of crabs? If I woke up to this, I'd have to be heli-vacced out. Me being evacuated: :((((( YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, SIR!!!! Great, now I gotta worry about bears in my kitchen. TIL about the puss caterpillar, which is wildly venomous and can cause pain for weeks. It's giving Cordyceps. You see the resemblance, right? This is actually Cordyceps, which is real, BTW (just not a reality for Okay, cool, so aliens are coming for us. Imagine looking outside your tent and seeing all these alligators. I didn't know moths could get this big, and I didn't want to! Burn it all!!!! If you ingested this tap water, you might as well say your last rites. No thanks!!!! TIL there used to be a water slide at an amusement park in the Netherlands where you were entirely submerged in a tunnel the entire time: 15-20 seconds. Let's just say I would not be going down that slide. I was just thinking I should start wearing my glasses more mind. This is one of the only circumstances in which it's okay not to wipe. I wish I hadn't seen this. :( Time to turn around and back away as fast as you can! I would suggest using another pump! I do not enjoy this photo! Why do I feel like this is from some devil-possessed Victorian child? Everyone, meet a queen termite. She's not as fun as a queen bee, I can tell you that. Did you know that ticks can get ticks??? It's pretty horrifying! Again, time to move! Me in that scenario: Those are all millipedes. 🤢 You could not PAY me to park here, let alone drive onto it. A nice, slow ride through the forest seems cool and you see the other guests. I'm not a fan of this guy. Snake dens are also a no from me. Guess I'm never having a canned drink again. I hope this person has shades! This is 100% a demon, right? And finally, this is just mold, but I don't like the look of it!
Scientific American
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scientific American
Behind the Scenes on the Science of The Last of Us
Behavioral ecologist David Hughes, who consulted on the video game that inspired the hit TV show The Last of Us, speaks about how our experience with the COVID pandemic changed the way we relate to zombie fiction By & Nature magazine The year was 2013, and the release of a hotly anticipated zombie-apocalypse video game was on the horizon. The game, called The Last of Us, invited players to explore what then seemed a fanciful scenario: a world devastated by a pandemic in which a pathogen kills millions of people. Unlike in many apocalypse fictions, the pathogen responsible wasn't a bacterium or a virus, but a fungus called Cordyceps that infects humans and takes over their brains. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The writers at game studio Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, California, were inspired by real fungi — particularly Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, known as the zombie-ant fungus. The fungus infects insects and releases chemicals into the animals' brains to change their behaviour. Ahead of the game's release, Naughty Dog turned to scientists, including behavioural ecologist David Hughes, a specialist in zombie-ant fungi (he named one after his wife), to field questions from the media about the fungal and pandemic science that inspired the story. Hughes, who is at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, has since moved to studying climate change and food security. The Last of Us spawned a sequel game in 2020 and a critically acclaimed television show, the second season of which concludes on 25 May on HBO. Hughes spoke to Nature about his experience consulting on the game and why COVID-19 changed our appetite for zombies. What was your involvement with the game? Naughty Dog studios asked me and a few other people who were notable in this space, including psychologists, to talk about whether we could have a global pandemic. Of course, in the intervening period, we all learnt that the answer was yes. They asked us to go around Europe and do a series of lectures to stave off critique and provide support to the idea that infections that jump from one species into another — zoonotic infections — are not only possible, but actually they're the predominant mechanism by which humans are infected with new parasites that cause disease. I had the good fortune to go to the studios and see the artistry that was involved, and meet the team and the voice actors of the video game. What did you make of the science in the game? I was really impressed by how much the game's writers got into the science of it and started to understand things like fungi and slime moulds, and just trying to think about the ways in which these organisms do their business. They really took it by themselves and incorporated those elements into the game. I think they were even mail-ordering slime moulds so they could just leave it out on a petri dish and examine it. And you see that throughout the game. And now in the TV programme, in the intros, they have these slime balls. The writers were geeky, and understanding fungi is not complex, so they ran with it. Did you play the games? I tried and I failed miserably! I'm just a typical hopeless scientist. Is the idea of a Cordyceps pandemic realistic? It is not unrealistic that fungi can infect humans if they come from animals. It is unrealistic to think that they could cause the behavioural changes in humans. The writers took liberties. They had different stages about how the infection changes over time. That's all fanciful, of course. Looking at the second season of the TV show, it was interesting that they have this communicative nature of the spores or the fungal hyphae. That's interesting because we know fungi are connected like that over many kilometres — for example, the mycorrhizal fungi, which are underneath root systems in trees, do that effectively. Have you been impressed by the science in the TV show? I often find that's the wrong question, because I dont think the job of the entertainment industry is to impress scientists. Scientists are highly problematic individuals. It's called the Carl Sagan effect. The more you popularize science, the less good your science is. It's an inverse relationship. I think it doesn't really matter. Science belongs to society, and people should tell stories about that. And, you know, snooty scientists saying, 'Oh, you didn't get this exactly right,' — like, who cares? What was your reaction when the COVID-19 pandemic happened? I told you so! In The Last of Us lectures, I talk about the same thing. I said, the problem is not whether we'll have zombie-ant fungi manipulating humans. It's not going to happen. The problem is if we lose 5% of our population, and the global economy shuts down, which we saw. Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic changed our appetite for zombie-apocalypse media? It's very interesting. You build a game about a dystopian future based on a pandemic, you live through a pandemic, and then what's the relevance of the game or the movie? I think our appetite for being scared by pandemics has receded because we all have PTSD. Or, we don't have PTSD and realized that some of us just don't care about other people. So it's interesting to look at the history of zombie lore. Back in the 1950s and 60s, it was all about nuclear weapons, because we were all collectively fearful of that. And then it moved into diseases, because we had an over-populated society. Then we had a pandemic, and we shrugged and moved on. So the fascinating thing is, The Last of Us is nice, but it's not what it used to be. first published on May 23, 2025.
Pink Villa
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Is The Last of Us Returning for Season 3? Here's What Fans Should Expect From Bella Ramsey Starrer
HBO's hit post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us concluded its dark second season on Sunday, May 25, with its hotly awaited Season 2 finale, Convergence. As viewers reeled from the emotionally intense episode, the focus shifted to the show's future. It looks like good news is on the horizon: The Last of Us has been officially renewed for Season 3. Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the award-winning series returned in April 2025 for season 2, carrying on the story based on the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II. Season 2 resumed five years on from the end of Season 1, exploring themes of loss, revenge, and moral complexity. Ellie set out on her quest to find Abby, the woman who brutally killed Joel. Throughout seven episodes, fans were inducted deeper into a universe in which the Cordyceps virus is still evolving. Now airborne spores carry it from person to person, and the threat of infection is bigger than ever before. New threats arise from rising tensions between competing factions, the Washington Liberation Front and the Seraphites. While shorter than Season 1, the tightened seven-episode structure was a deliberate creative decision on the part of showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. The two affirmed that the second half of the video game on which Season 2 is based has so much content that it will run more than just one extra season. Discussing with Deadline, Mazin suggested that the storyline can take up to a fourth season, describing Season 3 as significantly larger in scope and aspiration. "We feel like it's almost assuredly going to be the case that, as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television, Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4," Mazin told the outlet. HBO made the Season 3 renewal public on April 9, before Season 2's release. Francesca Orsi, HBO's Head of Drama, applauded the creative team's masterful follow-up, looking forward to what is to come. Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal's blockbuster series does not have a release date scheduled for its Season 3 yet. However, production schedules indicate that the next season might start filming in 2026, with an estimated premiere in early 2027. The Last of Us Season 2 episode premiered on May 25 on HBO and Max.
USA Today
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'The Last of Us' Season 2 nears end: How to watch finale, cast, more
'The Last of Us' Season 2 nears end: How to watch finale, cast, more Show Caption Hide Caption Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal discuss father-daughter relationship 'The Last of Us' stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reveal they didn't enjoy their character's estrangement in season 2. Spoiler alert! The following story contains details about Season 2 of HBO's "The Last of Us" (now streaming). After devastating viewers with harrowing performances, a gruesome character death and enough Cordyceps zombies to infect viewers dreams, the latest season of HBO's "The Last of Us" is coming to an end. The Season 2 finale of HBO's apocalypse drama airs this weekend, and it'll pick up from last week's tearjerker penultimate episode. Pedro Pascal returned to reprise his role as Joel Miller in a flashback story that took place before his tragic and brutal death in Episode 2. The episode offered clarity on what happened between the two leads after Ellie (Bella Ramsey) learned what Joel did last season. Beyond outraged, Ellie still chooses to try to forgive him, not knowing if she ever will, in a crushing moment, makes his death all the more tragic. The finale will pick right back up to the present day in Seattle with Ellie continuing her path of vengeance while becoming a soon-to-be parent to Dina's (Isabela Merced) unborn child. Here's how to watch the final episode. When is 'The Last of Us' finale? The Season 2 finale of "The Last of Us" drops on Sunday, May 25 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET on HBO and its streaming service Max, soon to be HBO Max (again). How to watch 'The Last of Us' New episodes of "The Last of Us" air on HBO and are available to stream weekly on Sundays at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET on Max. Season 1 of the series is also available to stream on Max. Max subscription plans begin at $9.99 a month with ads, while ad-free subscriptions cost $16.99 a month. The highest tier, which is $20.99 a month, includes the ability to stream on four devices and offers 4K Ultra HD video quality and 100 downloads. HBO also offers bundles with Hulu and Disney+. Watch 'The Last of Us' Season 2 with Sling + Max 'The Last of Us' Season 2 cast Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey returned to reprise their roles as Joel and Ellie in "The Last of Us" Season 2. The remaining Season 2 cast also includes the following: Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller as Tommy Miller Rutina Wesley as Maria Miller as Maria Miller Catherine O'Hara as Gail as Gail Kaitlyn Dever as Abby Anderson as Abby Anderson Isabela Merced as Dina as Dina Young Mazino as Jesse as Jesse Ezra Benedict Agbonkhese as Benjamin as Benjamin Ariela Barer as Mel as Mel Tati Gabrielle as Nora as Nora Spencer Lord as Owen as Owen Jeffrey Wright as Isaac as Isaac Danny Ramirez as Manny as Manny Tony Dalton as Javier as Javier Joe Pantoliano as Eugene as Eugene Andrew Diaz as Young Joel as Young Joel David Miranda as Young Tommy Watch the 'The Last of Us' Season 2 trailer Will there be a 'The Last of Us' Season 3? Yes, Season 3 of "The Last of US" is official, HBO announced ahead of the Season 2 premiere. However, it is unclear if the third season will be the show's last. Deadline reported last year that co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin said they were previously contemplating making up to four seasons. We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
Los Angeles Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 6: The root of Ellie's anger and estrangement
This story contains many spoilers for 'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 6. The infected have learned to stalk and sprint. The Cordyceps fungus is now airborne. And Joel (Pedro Pascal) isn't immortal. The first five episodes of 'The Last of Us' offered up several new threats and at least one major death. Deep into its second season, HBO's series adaptation of the popular video game remains true to its namesake by sending its protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and her partner Dina (Isabela Merced) on a revenge mission from their fortified compound in Wyoming to the wilds of Seattle. Their aim is to find Joel's killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). But the Pacific Northwest presents challenges beyond cauliflower-headed flesh eaters and deadly mean girls. The brutal conflict between the Washington Liberation Front and the primitive religious cult the Seraphites makes Ellie's mission all the more dangerous and complex — and the show's imagery more gruesome. Episode 6 brought Joel back from the dead in a series of flashbacks that gave insight into his unique parenting skills, revealed the event that triggered the rift between Joel and Ellie and uncovers what happened to therapist Gail's (Catherine O'Hara's) husband, Eugene (Joe Pantoliano). While on patrol, Eugene was bitten by the infected. Ellie made Joel promise he would not kill Eugene until he had the chance to say goodbye to his wife. But when Ellie leaves for a moment to retrieve their horses, Joel breaks the promise. Like Episode 3 of Season 1, Sunday's installment of the series was the rare episode that deviated from the game's narrative to tell a deeper story about the characters. Beginning at Ellie's 15th birthday and moving through subsequent ones, the episode chronicled the shifting dynamic in the main characters' father-daughter relationship, from a tight bond between orphan and her adopted protector to near estrangement. Lorraine Ali, Tracy Brown and Mary McNamara gathered to discuss the latest episode of the spore-filled thriller. Ali: 'The Last of Us' features flesh-eating zombie-like things and death-worshipping cults, but I love that the true terror at the heart of Season 2 is the prospect of parenting a teen. The theme at the core of Episode 6 was largely centered on the fraught father-daughter dynamic between Joel and Ellie and the dangers of passing down generational trauma. We even get some backstory on Joel's rough childhood, though I wish there had been more on that front. What we do get a lot more of is Ellie's hostility toward Joel, and it's exhausting in ways that the showrunners probably never intended. Naturally there is plenty of ire in Ellie as she hurtles toward adulthood in a hopeless hellscape with an assassin/guardian who's repeatedly lied to her. But now that she's the lead character of the series, I need more from Ellie than just one or two gears of rage and scorn, especially given the complexity of their relationship. Joel killed to save her and doomed humanity in the process! A bond forged in such tragedy should inspire a truckload of emotions, even in a defiant teen who's still clumsy at expressing her feelings. But that depth or nuance just wasn't there for me, even when the series cued us up for such moments. The flashbacks to Ellie's birthday celebrations with Joel felt like explainers of how the two grew apart as opposed to emotional snapshots that captured the roots of their estrangement. Maybe I've been spoiled by the surprising depth and beauty of Season 1? I miss the terror and joy of that abandoned mall. Brown: It's interesting that you mention the abandoned mall, Lorraine, because I think that's what it all comes back to for Ellie. I don't know if it's because I've spent many hours playing as Ellie in 'The Last of Us' games, or because I understand what it's like to be an angsty teenager much more than being a parent, but I thought Episode 6 did help shed some light on Ellie and Joel's behaviors and dynamic. Back in Episode 4, while trying to explain her immunity to the Cordyceps fungus to Dina, Ellie mentions that there are a lot of the times she wishes she wasn't immune. In this latest episode, we learn that one of the reasons Ellie is angry with Joel is because he lied to her about what happened back in Salt Lake City with the Fireflies. But she's also mad at him because he took away the one thing she thought could give her life and immunity purpose. 'My life would have mattered, but you took that from me,' she says to him on their porch, in what appears to have been their very last conversation. We know that Joel's been shaped by the guilt of not being able to save his daughter Sarah at the start of the outbreak. For Ellie, I think the loss that's affected her the most is Riley and the guilt of surviving their trip to that abandoned mall. If she wasn't immune, Ellie would have died that day with her best friend and first love. Because she didn't, she needed something to help justify why she's still alive. What greater meaning could someone find for their life in a world ravaged by a pandemic than to be the reason humanity is able to find a cure? McNamara: I'm grateful for the episode if only because it gave my own teenagers what they wanted most — more Pedro Pascal. (I miss him too but with much less passion.) But as you say, Tracy, survivor's guilt is real and now Ellie is eyeing another emotional burden — Joel was killed for actions he took to save her life. Revisiting Ellie's birthdays was very touching, bridging the changes in both characters. How the hard-edge Joel from Season 1 became the softly anguished therapy patient of Season 2. Why Ellie was so rude and dismissive toward him. She knew all along that he had lied to her about Salt Lake City, and he suspected she knew — the presents, especially the trip to the science and natural history museum, seemed equally motivated by love and penance. I also loved their time in the the space portion of the museum because it underlined the vagaries of human history — this is not the first advanced civilization to fall, leaving ruins behind. Joel remembers when humans traveled to the stars (and had the resources to build museums); for Ellie, a journey from Wyoming to Seattle is just as fraught. They were always essentially time-travelers in each others lives. But most important for me, this episode resolved just how Ellie had left it with Joel before Abby ruined everything. The truth was finally spoken — both Joel's and Ellie's. That she didn't think she could forgive him but she wanted to try. That he was taken from her before she could find her way to forgiveness must certainly drive some of the rage, no? Ali: OK, I officially feel hard-hearted, especially since we're discussing an episode designed to plumb the characters' and viewers' emotions. I'm glad Season 2 is connecting with you both, and millions more HBO and Max subscribers. Or is it HBO Max? Or plain old HBO? Regardless, this round of the series is not resonating with my adult, parenting self or my inner sullen teen, i.e. the part of my being that guides many of my rash decisions and dictates my slouchy posture. That said, I do love the chemistry between Ellie and Dina. Their love and fierce loyalty toward one another is a high point of Season 2. And it looks like they're now going to be parents. Brown: As Ellie says, she's going to be a dad! The way Ellie and Dina's relationship developed over the course of the season has been one of my favorite differences between the show and the game. But speaking of the game, the birthday trip to the museum and the porch conversation where Ellie tells Joel she wants to try to forgive him that Mary mentioned are both big flashback moments directly adapted from 'The Last of Us Part II' with some minor changes. In the game, Ellie and Joel spend time checking out a dinosaur exhibit before getting to the space exploration exhibit, which I admit I'm a little sad we did not get to see. And Ellie confronting Joel about the truth of what happened in Salt Lake is a separate moment long before the porch conversation in the game. One major difference between 'The Last of Us Part II' and the show is the storyline involving Eugene and Gail. The Eugene in the game was a resident of Jackson who lived out his life until he died of natural causes in his 70s, which is something the younger generation can only dream of. Gail, on the other hand, is an original character, and my response to her introduction was mostly 'hooray Catherine O'Hara, hooray therapy.' Catherine O'Hara is always a delight and it's clear everybody living in the world of 'The Last of Us' could use some therapy. But in Episode 6 we see that Eugene and Gail's story also serves as a flashpoint in Joel and Ellie's estrangement. We already knew Joel had killed Eugene from his therapy session with Gail earlier in the season, but what did you think about that whole sequence, Mary? Did it affect your understanding of Joel or Ellie in any way? McNamara: Well, I have to say that was an example of bad parenting. The patrol has rules, tough but necessary for the safety of the community. Ellie (who is, hello, freaking immune) wanted to bend them. Classic parent/child face-off. But instead of just saying 'no' to her and 'any last words?' to Eugene before shooting him, Joel allowed her believe she was getting her way, which was just dumb. Of course he was going to shoot Eugene; he had to shoot Eugene. But it honestly did not make sense to lie about it, especially when the lie would be exposed almost instantly. Sometimes a parent just has to be the bad guy, even if it means making Catherine O'Hara really mad at you. And though I agree with you both about the energy of Ellie and Dina offering love in place of vengeance during their excursion to Seattle, I wish the writers could have figured out a way to bring O'Hara along.
