Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing on on ethical creatures,
Speaker 1: ideas and monsters. In Time Blade, the vampire slayer knows
Speaker 1: his parasitic adversaries famously half of vampire, himself a dampier,
Speaker 1: the legacy of vamporism flows through his veins, Yet he
Speaker 1: devotes his life to the eradication of humanity, secretive undead enemies.
Speaker 1: It brings to mind another organism, itsself cousin to parasitic
Speaker 1: chigger mites and blood drinking ticks. The slime mighte histeostoma.
Speaker 1: You can consider this tiny arachnid the termite world's day
Speaker 1: walking savior, an outsider, but a protector who puts dangerous
Speaker 1: interlow Bruce to the sword see The Eastern subterranean termite
Speaker 1: doesn't have to contend with vampires, but it is plagued
Speaker 1: by the pathogenic fungus metterhisium an asopler. As Bill Shott
Speaker 1: explains in his book Dark Banquet, Blood and the Curious
Speaker 1: Lives of Blood Feeding Creatures, the fungus kills and infected
Speaker 1: termite with secreted toxins, and then feeds on the cadaver's nutrients.
Speaker 1: A fungal growth finally erupts from the body and spreads
Speaker 1: more deadly spores. Humans even use the fungus as an
Speaker 1: anti termite bioweapon, but that's where the slime might enters
Speaker 1: the picture. Just as Blades stakes vampires in human cities,
Speaker 1: so does the slime might consume the deadly fungus in
Speaker 1: termite abodes. After it has finished the slaying, the slime
Speaker 1: mite spreads a cocktail of non lethal decomposer microbes that
Speaker 1: compete with metterhisium and a supplier, and suppresses its growth.
Speaker 1: I think the day walker who tends to salt the
Speaker 1: vampiric earth with high tech uvy gadgetry would approve. Granted,
Speaker 1: the fungal villains involved here don't always give up so easily.
Speaker 1: To paraphrase Blade himself, some Metoi Amena Supler are always
Speaker 1: trying to ice Skate uphill. Tune in for additional episodes
Speaker 1: of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can
Speaker 1: email us at contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind
Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of
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