Remember that brain fungus that forces “zombie ants” to leave their colonies and march around feeding a fungal organism in their brains until one day it pops out and kills them? What if the terrorists get their hands on it?

Uh-huh. Crazy! If ant brains were really similar to human brains it might be worth a shot. But then again, if the underlying molecular mechanism by which the behavioral change is effected in ants, perhaps by some analogous means some progress could be made in that direction. But, in humans, it certainly would not involve direct use of the fungus.

The article goes on to quote a national security blogger,  Adam Weinstein of Current Intelligence who writes some interesting paranoid thoughts in a post entitled Zombie Ants: Should Governments Be Scared?

No, they shouldn’t. Decent pictures of ants with fungus growing out of their heads though. I can’t find any images of the exact fungus referenced in the research recently published in Biology Letters (Ophiocordyceps) but this one of Cordyceps from wiki commns is pretty spectacular.

Cordyceps on the job (Erich G. Vallery, USDA Forest Service - SRS-4552, United States)

Cordyceps militaris getting the job done (Jason Hollinger)

According to Scientists discover how Cordyceps mushrooms fight cancer by S. L. Baker, recent research has made progress in understanding how cordycepin, isolated from Cordyceps fungi (Ascomycota), may act to inhibit the growth and spread of cancer cells:

The University of Nottingham scientists found that the Cordyceps-derived treatment has two important effects on cells that could impact the growth of malignant tumors. At low doses, cordycepin inhibits the uncontrolled growth and division of cells while at high doses it prevents cells from sticking together, essentially blocking the cells from growing.

The original research, CORDYCEPIN INHIBITS PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AND CELL ADHESION THROUGH EFFECTS ON SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is available as a free PDF. Very cool.

The University of Nottingham published a press release on the research on December 22, 2009.

More on Cordyceps and cordycepin:

New insights into mushroom-derived drug promising for cancer treatment

Cordyceps at wikipedia

Cordyceps information from Sloan-Kettering

Cordyceps militaris at Mushroom Expert

Cordycepin at National Cancer Institute Drug Dictionary