Neuroparasitology (NATURE ZOMBIES) with Matt Simon
What’s on your mind? ZOMBIES. The planet is full of mind-controlling foes, and “Plight of the Living Dead” author Matt Simon researched deep and traveled the world to document tales of fungus-controlled zombie ants, bellies and brains full of worms, wasp bunkers, decapitated ants, brutal stings, hapless cockroaches, the attraction of light, moonlit skinny dipping, and the philosophy of where I stop and you begin. The two of us also discuss the Last of Us, of course.
Listen via Apple, Spotify, Google, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Visit Matt Simon’s website and follow him on Twitter
Shop Matt Simon’s books including Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal about Our World – And Ourselves
A donation went to the World Wildlife Fund
Links to things we discussed:
Sexual Selection, Natural Selection, and Body Size in Gammarus pulex (Amphipoda)
A New Species of Gordionus (Nematomorpha: Gordiida) from the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico
Method for removing horsehair worms in human body
New Definitive Host Record For Chordodes Morgani (Nematomorpha) In Nebraska With Notes On Ecology
Water-seeking behavior in worm-infected crickets and reversibility of parasitic manipulation
What inspired The Last of Us (interview)
Ancient death-grip leaf scars reveal ant– fungal parasitism
After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode
Did the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index volunteer to get stung by everything on earth?
CDC: Toxoplasmosis: An Important Message for Cat Owners
Cordyceps mushroom with increased cordycepin content by the cultivation on edible insects
Pharmacological and therapeutic potential of Cordyceps with special reference to Cordycepin
Other episodes you may enjoy:
Quantum Ontology (WHAT IS REAL?)
Invisible Photology (INVISIBILITY CLOAKS)
Ologies info:
Transcripts and bleeped episodes
Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes
Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month
OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, stickers, totes!
Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram
Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram
Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions
Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn