Do zombies exist in nature, and if so, what are they, and how do they enter this state of "undeath?" The word zombie first came into the English language in the 1800s, when poet Robert Southey mentioned it in his History of Brazil.

Ophiocordyceps is a species of fungus that infects, controls, and kills carpenter ants. The parasitic fungus takes control of the insect's mind, altering its behavior to make the propagation of fungal spores more likely. Mycologists are counting the species of Ophiocordeps, which has ove...

French researchers have created artificial "cocoons" for Zatypota wasps, which lay eggs on the abdomen of A. eximius spiders. When the egg hatches and the wasp larva emerges, it starts feeding on the spider and begins to take control of its body. The insect turns...

The bacteria — which insects disseminate — infect plants such as goldenrods, which have yellow flowers. The infection causes the goldenrods to put out leaf-like extensions instead of their usual blooms.

Researchers have studied the activity of phytoplasma, a type of insect. Phytopla...

• In 2014, researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Aix–Marseille Université in France dug a fascinating organism out of the Siberian permafrost: a so-called giant virus, about 30,000 years old, which they named Pithovirus sibericum.