Scientific Jargon: The Comic

A series of short comics (with a dash of scientific jargon) about weird, crazy, and humbling things in life around us.

By Sirena Khanna
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Zombie ants, or according to the scientific name, Camponotus leonardi ants, live in tropical rainforest trees. They can be infected by the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus, which possess the ants and prompt them to climb down their trees to a precise location on the ground. Then, the fungus directs the ant to bite down on a leaf in a “death grip,” after which the ant dies and the fungus releases more spores from that spot.

Did you hear the joke about the fungus? I could tell it to you, but it might need time to grow on you.