Hello, scientists!
Today, we're going to face the greatest fear of the decade: zombies. You may be thinking that a zombie outbreak is completely fictional and impossible. Although it hasn't happened before, it's technically possible. Here's how.
Throughout all the fictional books and movies we've seen, the majority of zombie outbreaks are caused by bacteria or viruses. However, if zombies do become a reality, it will not happen like this. When either of these two kinds of life invade another organism, it doesn't build large, interior, physical structures, like zombies always appear to have. Although these kinds of infections aren't likely, there is one that is: fungal infection.
First of all, it is possible for fungus to infect humans, and they build structures. It may seem odd that they make things, like humans, so let's look at an example.
Mycorrhizae is a type of fungi that supplies a satisfactory answer to whether they build objects. Recent scientific studies have shown that plants actually communicate with each other by connecting their roots with mycorrhizae. This allows the plants to tell each other when pests are present, giving them an early warning system to build up defenses. Because it transfer information, like a nerve, fungus could infect our body and send information to our brain to do its binding, such as eating brains.
These fungal spores can actually enter our body, in ways such as inhaling them. When we die, the spores would detect that our body would be inactive, and would take action. Fungal systems would grow. It would then tell us what to do and transfer nutrients to organs needed to do work.
Although it seems like science-fiction (because it is), it has happened before. Parasitic wasps have infected hosts, such as caterpillars, and make them perform behaviors decided upon by the wasps. They aren't zombies, because they were never dead, but it shows proof that an organism can take control of another. Creepy, huh?
Again, I haven't really been able to post blogs because of my schedule. Make sure to comment, and I'll see you in the next post!
Until next time,
Ben's jamin'
Benjamin
P.S. Make sure you check out John's math blog at http://johncooksmathblog.blogspot.com.
Very interesting points! Would you re-define a Zombie, then, as a creature under control of another force (such as a virus or fungus) rather than reanimated dead tissue?
ReplyDeleteI would probably define a zombie as both. After all, a zombie has to be dead by definition, but it would be reanimated by another organism. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete