Zombies aren’t real ... Right?    

For those of you that have seen or played the popular animation series and videogame, “The Last of Us” (new season releasing April 13th), you probably know the fungus that started the end of the world, Cordyceps. For those that don't know the show/video game, Cordyceps is a fungus that infects the brain and turns humans into zombie-like beings.

This fungus is not just a fictional virus for a TV show. It is real and has the same effects as it does in the show/video game. 

However, in the real world, it only affects insects. This is because it cannot survive at the temperature of the human brain; it is only able to handle temperatures between 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, as stated by LabXchange.

When Cordyceps infect an insect, they feed on the proteins in the organism's body, eventually killing it. 

After the victim is dead, the fungus blooms out of the base of the insect's head and uses it as a dispersing system to infect organisms passing by.

But what would happen if the earth got warmer because of factors such as climate change or global warming? 

Changes like these would hypothetically cause this adaptation-inclined fungus to evolve to survive in a warmer environment. 

With that being said, this fungus living in an environment of about 98 degrees Fahrenheit (ca. 37 °C), such as the human brain, may not seem so fictional after all.

Now, one might think that the human immune system is much stronger than an insect's, so it may have no effect on humans. 

Maybe that would be the case if we had not just experienced a worldwide pandemic that compromised almost the entirety of the human population's immune system.

Procedures like amputation, organ transplantation, skin grafts, and especially COVID-19 can weaken the immune system. This weakens the immune system, thereby making it easier for fungi to infect the brain.

 Memorial Sloan Kettering Library touches more on the effects that COVID-19 has on the human immune system if you're interested.

That being said, the idea of a full-blown apocalypse is far from imminent. 

As for this current moment, there is zero chance of cordyceps infecting humans, so the human species is in the clear for now. 

That is, unless we continue the way we have been with climate change. If we don't take action, perhaps the fiction will turn into reality. The human race is just waiting to see.