Penn State Scientist Explores Zombie Virus In what is becoming
an all too common occurrence in nature, parasitic organisms take
control of unsuspecting hosts, turning them into zombie-like
creatures. Despite how scary it sounds, this is fairly common in
nature. In fact, this very issue has plagued scientists for
years as to why some organisms, like viruses, fungi, wasps,
tapeworms, and a multitude of other organisms can take over the
minds of these creatures. David Hughes, an entomologist here at
Penn State, has unlocked some information vital to this zombie-
like phenomenon. As The New York Times reported last week,
Hughes, his associates, and Kelli Hoover — another researcher at
Penn State — found a single gene, egt, which affects
caterpillars. When egt “attacks,” an enzyme encoded in the gene
is released throughout the caterpillar’s system. This enzyme
destroys another enzyme that the caterpillars need to stop
feeding and start molting. These infected caterpillars will
continue to eat and eat, stuck up on t