> Although the host brain isn't invaded by fungal cells, previous work has shown that the brain may be chemically altered by the parasite, Hughes noted.

I think it's much more probably that ants have some high-level chemical signals that the fungus uses. One to climb, and another to bite maybe?

Ants already use pheromones to communicate.

That seems more probable and way more intuitive, but I don't really understand how the mechanics of that mesh with what the researchers are saying happens to the ant muscles.

Yeah it's really weird. Animal time scales (needed to control muscles) seem much faster (order of ms) than fungus time scales (order of seconds for a very fast one)

It seems to me it requires the whole fungus to assembly itself in some kind of "fungus brain". Really fascinating stuff

No more than the genes that lead animals to survive because they have an instinct to hide from predators.

These evolutionary processes do not imply any kind of intent. They exist because they work. The things that don't work eventually disappear.

The article reads like it either does or it somehow manipulates the nervous system of the host without actually infecting the brain.