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Tuesday

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'

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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Monday

Monday

The zombies living in our midst

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

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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