zombie : NPR

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell spoke at an event in Boston, Mass., on Jan. 15.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell spoke at an event in Boston on Jan. 15. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images hide caption

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Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

National

Hundreds of zombies killed by Massachusetts AG — zombie loans, that is

November 1, 2024 • The Massachusetts AG is cracking down on a company collecting on "zombie second mortgages" — old loans that homeowners thought were dead but rise from the grave. People are losing houses over them.

Massachusetts is going after a company collecting on 'zombie second mortgages'

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The science that spawned fungal fears in HBO's 'The Last of Us'

HBO new hit show The Last of Us takes place in post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a fungal outbreak. Liane Hentscher/HBO hide caption

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Liane Hentscher/HBO

Short Wave

The science that spawned fungal fears in HBO's 'The Last of Us'

February 21, 2023 • The video game series that spawned the new hit HBO drama, The Last of Us, is the zombie genre with a twist. Instead of the standard viral pandemic or bacterial disease that's pushed humanity to the brink, but a fungus that has evolved to survive in human bodies in part due to climate change.

The science that spawned fungal fears in HBO's 'The Last of Us'

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The zombie fungus from 'The Last Of Us' is real — but not nearly as deadly

In the video game and HBO show The Last of Us, an infectious fungi turns humans into zombies. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption

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David McNew/Getty Images

Science

The zombie fungus from 'The Last Of Us' is real — but not nearly as deadly

January 30, 2023 • This species of fungus, Ophiocordyceps, is known for using "mind control" on insect hosts. Humans, however, are immune.

An ant is host of the parasitic Ophiocordyceps fungus. Katja Schulz/Flickr hide caption

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Katja Schulz/Flickr

Short Wave

The zombies living in our midst

October 25, 2021 • The idea of human zombies probably seems pretty far-fetched. But there are real zombies out there in the animal kingdom. To kick off Halloween week, science writer Ed Yong of The Atlantic creeps us out with a couple of examples. Hint: they involve fungus. (Encore episode)

The zombies living in our midst

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