Monsters reveal how societies define and punish deviance. Wintering’s widows make me think about the women I know who are strong and wise in ways neither recognised nor endorsed by the mainstream.
Raw flour at the store still contains live microorganisms. And while cooking can kill the fungi, it doesn’t destroy any illness-causing mycotoxins that might be present.
While ‘The Last of Us’ is a dramatic projection of a deadly fungal outbreak, it is based, if not in reality, in logic. And it’s a reminder that fungal infections are growing more resistant.
As COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic, apocalyptic science-fiction and zombie movies contain examples of how to adjust to the new normal.
Indigenous stories of survival in fictional post-apocalyptic landscapes draw from actual events and experiences. These stories preserve histories and the possibility of hope.
The popularity of zombie apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic narratives has emerged from some of the same economic and cultural currents that gave rise to Trump’s presidency.
Parasitic wasps are body-snatchers — if you’re an insect. But these much-maligned creatures have saved millions of human lives by controlling the spread of the cassava mealybug.
In myths and songs, Hairypeople were understood as human-like but uncivilised. Different responses to them in two Warlpiri communities show how colonisation has changed these monsters too.
SARS-CoV-2 is much like a zombie virus. It interferes with normal sickness behavior and blocks pain, turning its victims into unsick spreaders of the virus.
Zombie TV shows are reboots with the same casts and locations. Seachange is the zombie virus’s latest victim but the zeitgeist has moved on and the show’s comic tone grates.