'Zombie' spiders infected by never-before-seen fungus discovered on grounds of destroyed Irish castle

Comments

• givesomefucks@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  After the spider leaves its lair, G. attenboroughii produces a toxin to kill its host, then uses antibiotics — antimicrobial substances that kill bacteria — to preserve the corpse whilst mummifying it.

  Actually might be pretty big.

  A “new” antibiotic would be incredibly useful until we over use it

  source
• Wahots@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  While the relationship between the fungus and spiders is interesting, Evans noted the endpoint of this research should be the potential human medicines that could come from the antibiotics and other substances the fungus produces. “It’s a medicinal treasure chest,” he said.

  Oh no, haha. What could go wrong?

  On a more serious note, new antibiotics could be interesting. I hope we continue to research antifungals in an increasingly warm world.

  I also hope we do more research into phages, which seems very promising for things like drug-resistant TB, drug resistant STDs, etc.

  source
• tyler@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  G. attenboroughii was originally going to be called G. bangbangus — “bangbangus” being a nod to the gunpowder store where the fungus was found. However, the study authors changed the species name to honor Attenborough instead

  Only two options.

  source

  • Apeman42@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Well they had to after Attenborough pointed out that the original name looked like “bang bus”.

    source
  • x3x3@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I wonder how many Attenborough species are there by now

    source
• AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They better keep that contained to their slice of the planet or I’m gonna have to fuck some shit up… after I’m done cowering in fear.

  source
• beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  New phobia unlocked.

  source
• Aurolei@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The article is pretty vague. Like does it move around from place to place or is the spider just a medium to grow new spores?

  If it’s the former, definitely new fear unlocked.

  source