How a zombie fungus hijacks cicadas, turning them into horror-movie sex-bots

Zombie fungi can take over cicadas and manipulate their behavior so the insects function like “sex bots.” The fungus alters the cicada’s normal life cycle, forcing it toward mating or sex-related activity that benefits fungal spread. Instead of dying passively, the infected cicadas become part of the fungus’s reproduction strategy. The piece frames this as an unsettling example of host manipulation in nature, linking the real biology of fungal infection and control to pop-culture horror imagery (zombie and sex-bot themes) to make the mechanism easier to grasp.