Pestival’s Zombie Ant Fungus on BBC Radio 4

The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus

Curator: Bridget Nicholls | Partner: BBC Radio 4 | Sponsor: BBC

Zombie ant Fungus, BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4’s The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus explores the extraordinary fungus that takes control of an ant’s nervous system, altering its behaviour so it can reproduce.

Presented by cultural entomologist and Pestival collaborator Bridget Nicholls, the programme brings together science, philosophy, music and sound art to examine questions of autonomy, control and our entanglement with the natural world.

The documentary grew from Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control. The original production premiered as a Pestival commission at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, bringing together science, performance, music and entomology to investigate one of the natural world’s most extraordinary, and unsettling, relationships.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Wednesday 15 July 2026 at 3:30pm Tuesday 21 July 2026 at 9:00pm.

Listen on BBC Sounds now.

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Pestival’s Zombie Ant Fungus on BBC Radio 4

The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus

BBC Radio 4’s The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus explores the extraordinary fungus that takes control of an ant’s nervous system, altering its behaviour so it can reproduce. Presented by cultural entomologist and Pestival collaborator Bridget Nicholls, the programme brings together science, philosophy, music and sound art to examine questions of autonomy, control […]

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The response from audiences, writers, scientists and performers was extraordinary.

Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control brought together science, theatre, music, performance and visual storytelling in a wildly imaginative exploration of one of nature’s strangest phenomena: the parasitic fungi that manipulate the behaviour of ants.

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