Saw this article today and thought 'I will never cease to be amazed by nature'. It was about how a certain fungi infects ants and cause them to be what was quite aptly named 'Zombie ants'.
The fungi lodges itself in the ants brain and 'directs' it to find a suitable place that would be safe and secure for it to grow. The ant then scurries away and perches itself onto something. The 'message' that the fungi sends to the ants brain is so strong that the ant clamps down hard onto its perch with its jaws.
The fungi then kills the ant and feeds off its fluids (awesome...). Ok, actually that's a little freaky...
Here's some pics and a note of warning, it's not for the faint hearted.
1. Infection after death:
2. I shall come out of its head!
You can read all about it here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110303-zombie-ants-fungus-new-species-fungi-bugs-science-brazil/
I realised that in school, a lot of kids got branded as being nerdy or geeky or sporty or cool or beautiful or a joker or whatever the trend was then. I always thought myself as not being nerdy but heck I treated chess as a religion during my schooling years... But does that automatically qualifies me as being a nerd? I played basketball and guitar and played truant (sad to say a little too frequently) at the same time. So what was I? A nerdy sporty delinquent?
My fascination with science started when I was a kid and my parents bought me an encyclopaedia. I must have read the whole set cover to cover like a dozen or more times.
Unfortunately, during my upper secondary years I drifted a little towards worldly entertainment. But perhaps it wasn't such an unfortunate thing...
However, once I was in the university my passion was rekindled and I read books that were not in my syllabus just because I wanted to.
So here I am, finishing my PhD and on my way to becoming what my friends fondly call a "Dr Kayu". Darn...
Anyways, to all those who like or liked to pick on nerds (wait i suddenly had an epiphany, i was never picked on so i guess i can rule being a nerd out...), beware.... HE....
COULD BE YOUR BOSS IN THE FUTURE...
