
It's one of those painful summer memories: fire ants swarm all over your feet, stinging you like crazy. But scientists are now fighting back against fire ants -- by turning them into zombies.
The tiny flies dive bomb the ants, implanting an egg inside the ant's body. The egg hatches into a worm. That tiny larva wiggles its way into the ant's head, where it turns the ant -- into a mindless zombie.
"The maggot inside the ant's head is trying to protect itself, and it does so by modifying the ant's behavior," Porter said.
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |