Can human beings become zombie? || Science behind The Last of Us.

I have always wanted to play The Last of Us ever since its release on PlayStation 3 in 2013 but didn't own a PlayStation. but Playstaion announced they have been working on a series adoption of Last of Us. I was really excited to have finally watched the story. Even though I was excited at first I thought to myself not to get my hopes up since there were a lot of game adaptations that didn't hold up to the hype, a lot of times it was just a hit-and-miss, so I was being skeptical at first.

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In 2023, in January HBO released the first episode of Last of Us and the review was all over the place saying it is the best adaptation of games to date. I couldn't wait to watch but at the same time, I like to binge-watch series. most of the time I finish a season in one go. so I was waiting for the whole season to get released and after they released them, I binge-watched in one go, and it was one of the best zombie series or movies, one of the best portrayal of dystopian future. I had a great time watching it, if you haven't had the chance to watch the series I highly recommend you do.

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Synopsis
20 years ago, Humanity is on the brink of extinction after getting infected by a fungus that turns infected people into zombie-like creatures which are very aggressive. 20 years into the pandemic after the outbreak, humanity is not the same as before. there are very limited products, and people use tablets and medicines which expired like 10 years ago hoping nothing happens to them, In this chaos there are some people who want to declare a dictatorship amid chaos and there is a rebel group called Fireflies that fight back the government. now for the main protagonist, Joel who lost everything when the massive outbreak, and Ellie who is not turned into a zombie after being infected cross the lines after the story progresses Joel feels responsible for the kid and they cross across the United States to deliver her the firefly rebel group so that they can cure the infection with her blood.

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Interview scene
the pre-credits scene at the start of the series is brilliant. this scene was made to let the people who haven't played the game have some idea of what's going on. But it does more than that, the interview scene set in 1968 consists of two epidemiologists and an interviewer. initially, they just talk about flu and some other viruses until Dr. Neuman steps in, He lets people know how much of a threat a fungus poses to humanity. As people around him are being skeptical about his claims he starts to explain them about the situation and he gets the people in the talk show and us, the audience too. I never thought a talk show would pump adrenaline into my body because when he explains the probability, it feels like it makes sense.

There are already zombies living in nature, Ophiocordyceps is a genus of fungi that infect various insects when they come into contact with its spore turning them into a zombie. let me explain the state of the zombie I am talking about, In nature, all living organism's sole purpose is to reproduce. bacteria infect us so that they can live and reproduce inside us. there are various fungi that infect ants and take over their brain, and move them to their will thus making them zombies, after some time they feed on the muscles of the host and eventually spread spores by taking all the nutrients from ants.

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when Ophiocordyceps infects carpenter ants when they come in contact with the spores, they turn them into zombies and make them climb trees to plants to get a good elevation, and then they kill the ant to make them stand there and spread their spores since they gained elevation the spores have a much larger chance to spread to larger distances.

When Dr. Neuman lets people know about the fungus that can turn insects into zombies, other scientist thinks this is absurd, fungus can't live in human beings and Neuman agrees they can't live in warmer conditions such as the human body, they have no reason to evolve as of now. but what if the earth is to get warmer, now they have a reason to evolve. it was truly terrifying when he puts it like that.

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Conclusion
I only talked about the interview scene because I feel it is a brilliant scene and the science behind it was believable for a moment too. it was well thought out, but it only sets the stage for what's going to happen in the series, after all the series is an action-packed adrenaline-pumping experience and it delivered that too. I am really impressed by how well they thought out the science behind the infection. As I already told this series is a brilliant watch, I'd definitely recommend you to watch it. this series easily stays on one of my top favorite series lists.

Hope you had fun reading, thank you!!
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