How the Zombie Fungus Takes Over Ants’ Bodies to Control Their Minds

When the fungus first enters its host, it exists as single cells that float around the ant’s bloodstream, budding off new copies of themselves. But at some point, as Fredericksen’s images show, these single cells start working together. They connect to each other by building short tubes, a kind that have only ever been seen before in fungi that infect plants. Hooked up in this way, they can communicate and exchange nutrients.