The World’s Most Expensive Fungus | NOVA | PBS
Originally published in 2016. The priciest fungus in the world is a parasite that grows from a caterpillar’s head.
Since the original publication of this video, several studies have found results that allude to its health benefits.
NIH, 2021: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33691194/
Pharmacological Research – Modern Chinese Medicine, 2023: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667142523000805
Royal Society of Chemistry, 2024: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2024/fo/d3fo03770c
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@jamesuthmann940
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
It's been speculated that this fungus was even one of the reasons for China taking over Tibet in the 1950s.
@Salt_Master_Queue
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
When it comes to parasitic fungi, I'd like to borrow the words of John Green: "Because it always comes back to [cordyceps]." iykyk
If you don't, John likes to talk about how a lot of things in history, especially for the past ~200 years or so, "… it always comes back to tuberculosis" because TB has always come back to haunt us whenever there's a huge thing going on (mainly the wars started ~20 years or so after the last one started or ended)
@jasonschriver5949
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
You're here now? Gross science is moving up being on NOVA! Good for you! Glad to see you making vids again 😀
@jarmengolalbanell
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Ten years old!
@rocksedge2000
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
*Fingers crossed*
C'mon, The Last of Us! C'mon!….
@DirtFlyer
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Allrightee then….time for dinner.
@Apollo440
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Everybody calls him a fungi until the check arrives!
@justins21482
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
yeah the chinese would wipe out entire species for their traditional medicine bullshit
@ManiacRacing
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Yeah, you lost me at "Chinese Traditional Medicine". Same people that caused White Rhinos to go extinct and put literally dozens of other species on endangered lists. Traditional stupidity.
@ZaPirate
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
so who is ready for the cordyceps epidemic? Queue in The Last of Us.
@JeditheScribe
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Glad to see “Gross Science” is back.
@jonerlandson1956
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
i think more people in this reality need to recognize it
–>> the human being has more bacterial DNA working upon it than it has it's own human DNA… the mitochondria… the powerplants of our cells and our bodies were once an ancient form of bacteria that developed a symbiotic relationship with a eukaryotic cell…. there are many people today who believe humans are simply some form of bacterium that are having a human experience.
—> animal(n.)
early 14c., "any sentient living creature" (including humans), from Latin animale "living being, being which breathes," noun use of neuter of animalis (adj.) "animate, living; of the air," from anima "breath, soul; a current of air" (from PIE root *ane- "to breathe;" for sense development, compare deer).
–>> freedom (n.)
Old English freodom "power of self-determination, state of free will; emancipation from slavery, deliverance;" see free (adj.) + -dom. Meaning "exemption from arbitrary or despotic control, civil liberty" is from late 14c. Meaning "possession of particular privileges" is from 1570s. Similar formation in Old Frisian fridom, Dutch vrijdom, Middle Low German vridom.
–>> A full 90 per cent of the Earth's precious topsoil is likely to be at risk by 2050, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO. In a bid to protect soil globally and help farmers, the FAO warned on Wednesday that the equivalent of one soccer pitch of earth erodes, every five seconds.Jul 27, 2022..
–>> Is the Earth really overpopulated? Yes, for two main reasons. First, people are rapidly displacing wildlife species across the globe, initiating a mass extinction event. Second, we are degrading ecosystems that provide essential, irreplaceable environmental services that future generations will need to live decent lives.
@kaitlyn__L
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
I guess by harvesting the caterpillars they’re also taking away the mycelium inside its body. Could they harvest just the sprout? I guess there’s plenty of the active ingredient inside the caterpillar‘s body as well…
@cynkingking
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
The Chinese must have a lot of problems keeping it up. They seem to need a lot of aphrodisiacs.
@AdvantestInc
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Nature keeps inventing biological mechanisms no lab could plausibly design from scratch, and parasitic fungi might be the strangest example of that whole category.
@trull122
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Is there anything left that isn't made for 3 year olds?
@Tracy81258
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Rumor has it the testicles of Chinese men cures cancer.
@jjp1220
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Big business in farming if it can be used to farm
@isisemkeb
May 9, 2026 at 8:18 pm
This is so gross …
Went to China, half the world in mt case, lost 11 lbs in the first week.
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