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Flipboard Science Desk (sciencedesk@flipboard.social)'s status on Thursday, 20-Jun-2024 06:15:10 JST Flipboard Science Desk

West Virginia University mycology professor Matt Kasson is tracking a fungus called Massospora cicadina. It is the only one on Earth that makes amphetamine in a critter when it takes over. This fungus takes control over the cicadas, making them hypersexual, looking to spread the parasite as a sexually transmitted disease, NBC News reports:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/zombie-cicadas-controlled-fungus-sex-crazed-rcna157956
#Fungus #Parasite #Zombie #Cicadas #Amphetamine
In conversation about 5 months ago from flipboard.social permalink
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1. Collecting sex-crazed zombie cicadas on speed: Scientists track a bug-controlling fungus
  
  from NBCNews
  
  A nasty fungus can take control over a cicada, producing amphetamine in the critter and making them hypersexual, thereby fueling the parasite's spread.

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