Coincidently I happened to listen to a bbc radio programme on mushrooms which talked about cordyceps and how it infects ants. The new (to me) research was that

Coincidently I happened to listen to a bbc radio programme on mushrooms which talked about cordyceps and how it infects ants. The new (to me) research was that the fungus doesn't really infect the brain, more the rest of the body and its muscles. Cordyceps more or less puppeteers the ants body to get it to do what it wants in very precise ways, like making the ant climb to a suitable height and then bite into a particular part of the plant's leaf. All of this from a fungus. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022sck https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022sck]