urbpan: (dandelion)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2013-07-15 06:31 pm

Crowd spore-cing

Two interesting Kickstarter projects became known to me today:


This one (already funded) will result in a much-needed field guide to slime molds. It's a guide to Australian slime molds, but I'm hoping it will be useful in North America as well--many species are cosmopolitan and widespread.


"Bringing Zombie Ants to Life" is a winning title for a project to create a curriculum and open source gallery on the subject of Cordyceps, a group of parasitic fungi that change the behavior of animals. These fungi infect an animal host, invade its nervous system and control the animals' mind, making the animal into a vehicle for the reproduction of the fungus. You may be somewhat aware of Cordyceps from David Attenborough or a video game.