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Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode”
On Oct. 24, a team of researchers reported an important new insight into the origin of zombies — in this case, ants zombified by a fungus. In this Halloween-themed lesson, students trace the evolution of a mysterious zombifying fungus and consider how it would have to further evolve to infect humans.
Warm-Up
What do you know about zombies from pop culture, such as those from movies, TV shows and literature?
What are their best-known characteristics? What do they look like? How do they behave? How does one become a zombie? How are zombies defeated? What makes them so frightening?
You might create a drawing of a zombie with labels to illustrate these points. Or, have a Graffiti Board discussion with your classmates by writing “zombie” in the middle and then adding your ideas around it.
If you want to know more about zombies in pop culture, read this overview from History.com or watch this one-minute video from Live Science. (Note to teachers: This video contains some gory scenes. Please preview before sharing it with students.)
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, then answer the following questions:
1. How does the fungus Ophiocordyceps zombify an ant? Create a timeline of the process.
2. Why did researchers want to be able to draw a family tree of Ophiocordyceps? What information did they hope it would reveal?
3. Compare and contrast how the fungus infects beetles versus how it infects ants. What are the major similarities and differences between the processes?
4. What role did natural selection play in the evolution of the fungus in ants?
5. Why does one of the researchers, João Araújo, say that describing new species of Ophiocordyceps will be “a never-ending job for generations”?
6. Which detail in the article stood out to you the most? What made it so compelling to you?
Going Further
Use this graphic organizer to compare and contrast the ant zombies from the article to those from pop culture that you discussed in the warm-up.
What are the major similarities and differences between these types of zombies? What do you think might explain them?
If the fungus Ophiocordyceps were to further evolve to infect humans, what major transformations would it have to make to survive? Consider how both human behavior and biology would influence its evolution.
