Dr. Harry Evans, Emeritus Fellow at CAB International, led scientists—including from the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Royal Botanical Gardens Kew—in a study to investigate the identity of a fungus found on a spider during filming of the BBC Winterwatch series in Northern Ireland. The work is published in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution.

I will warn you that the images are not pleasant.

    • @ikidd
      6•5 hours ago

      I saw some of their zombies working the ski hill here. They’re all “g’day” and “Have fun!”, but I know what they’re up to.

      • @Warl0k3English
        2•4 hours ago

        Those duplicitous bastards.

  • @seven_phoneEnglish
    34•10 hours ago

    There was a supplementary paper that noted the AGGT gene string was being activated by this fungal process and led to giantism with some individuals reaching the size of dogs. Growth spurts of this sort in spiders studied were accompanied by hyperactivity due to respiratory problems and an insatiable hunger for flesh. Twelve specimens that seemed most prone to these symptoms are being flown to the Huugens Spider research labs in Baltimore for further study. Results are not expected to be immediate due to problems Baltimore is currently having with its security.

      • @seven_phoneEnglish
        10•8 hours ago

        No sorry I just made it up, I did play the original Resident Evil back when the world was young but nothing after and have not seen any of the films beyond them just being on in a room I happened in but some cultural reference may have seeped into my head when I wasn’t on guard.

    • @FredselfishEnglish
      5•8 hours ago

      First thought it was from The Last of Us. Glad it satire for now.

    • @JoeKisEnglish
      6•10 hours ago

      Source pls

        • @seven_phoneEnglish
          4•8 hours ago

          Yes it is actually the ATTG string, we all have a good laugh about that one back in the creepy crawly labs.

    • @GeneralEmergencyEnglish
      29•9 hours ago

      The island of Ireland.

      A large landmass in the Atlantic.

      • @BananaTrifleViolinEnglish
        6•9 hours ago

        Can’t be swearing on the Internet! I think you mean f***. Possibly even **** or even better fudge. Would hate to upset the Americans! They might impose tariffs.

          • @[email protected]English
            8•7 hours ago

            They’re joking, referencing the propensity of companies of late to try and sanitize the internet so people have taken to censoring memes and comments like that, even with words that aren’t curse words (thus the existence of words like “unalive” and “sewerslide” to reference suicide.) So much so it has creeped in here from their users and stolen memes as well now.

            Though “American?” Iirc TikTok started this mess, and American companies are probably hopping on board now but I don’t use anything but lemmy and masto so who knows.