The Last of Us season 2 more grounded in reality than you might think, researchers say [Video]

HBO’s hit series The Last of Us is back on TV screens on April 13, and while the premise might seem far-fetched, researchers at the University of British Columbia say it’s not as much as one might think.

The trailer for season 2, which was shot in B.C., appears to show the “zombie fungus” cordyceps infecting humans by releasing airborne spores, which is different than in season one when the fungus appeared to infect humans through tentacles.

Researchers said that many fungal diseases that infect humans, such as Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes meningitis in humans, are spread by inhaling spores.

“Fungi love to make spores,” Dr. Jim Kronstad, a professor and microbiologist at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories, said in a statement.

Real-life cordyceps colonizes ant brains, causing the insect to climb to a high branch. The fungus then punches through the ant’s head and rains spores down on the forest floor.

Kronstad said …