Angry Zombies

Fit like there students, help yourself to a cup of tea and let’s get into today’s ZomBlog.

I’m preparing our new public lecture, Zombie Science: Brain of the Dead, for it’s debut at the London Horror Festival. In this lecture I’ll be delving into the Zombie brain. Today I thought I’d share some insights into a part of the brain called the amygdala, and what its role is in Zombieism.

The amygdala lies deep within the brain and is about the size of an almond. It plays a key role in the display and control of aggression.

During a study involving monkeys, their amygdalae were stimulated electrically. This led to an increase in aggression. The fact that monkeys react angrily to having their brains electrocuted isn't exactly a revelation, but us scientists have to pass the time somehow.

The size of the amygdala is known to correlate with how aggressive a species is. If a male is castrated, the amygdala can shrink by up to 30 percent. This may offer one method of calming down male Zombies, but, as opposed to the head, usually offers a smaller target.

I'm personally uncomfortable just looking at this tool, never mind attempting to use it on a Zombie

A reason that Zombieism may want to manipulate this area, and cause increased aggression, is to help it spread.

Recent research suggests that parasites often take up residence in the amygdala. The parasite, toxoplasma causes the disease, Toxoplasmosis. Its preferred host is a cat however if it infects a mouse or rat, it changes their behaviour to make them attracted to cat odours. This will increase their chance of being eaten by a cat thus placing the parasite in the host it desires.

Unless of course the mouse has a basic understanding of explosives

In a similar way Zombieism could twist the amygdalae to do its bidding by altering Zombie behaviour, making Zombies more likely to bite, and therefore improving the odds the disease will be transferred.

Zombies biting is a bit of a ‘three for the price of one’ bonus. It’s how they breed, feed, and make us humans take heed.

Find out more about the undead brain by joining me on the 28th & 29th of October 2013 for the brand new lecture Zombie Science: Brain of the Dead at the London Horror Festival, find out more here, and book your tickets by calling 020 7482 4857. The lecture is part of a 3 year project supported by a Society Award from the Wellcome Trust.

Don’t forget, if you have a question you’d like me to answer here in the ZomBlog why not leave it as a comment below? Or visit our Book of Faces and ask your question there.

When it comes to the science of Zombies we’ve got it covered, or at the very least, we can make it sound like we do.

Keep up the good work my students,

Doctor Austin

Doctor Austin ZITS BSz MSz DPep, is a Theoretical Zombiologist and Head of the Zombie Institute for Theoretical Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland UK.

Zombie Vs Predator

Ahoy-hoy Zombie Fans, good to have you here for today’s ZomBlog.

Once again I’ll be endeavouring to shine some scientific sense over your Zombiology questions.

The first question we have today is from Lee who asks,

“How do zombies sense their prey? Their eyes are often portrayed as cloudy, so can they see? Can they just 'see' movement? Do they develop other senses, to pick up heat for example? As their infected brains can barely function enough to move their atrophied limbs, how difficult it must be to use barely functioning senses.”

A real Zombie would of course be more like a human being than their fictional counterparts. They’d have the same senses as we do. In movies they are often shown as being super sensitive to smell, noise, and so on. This of course makes for a more dramatic and scary scene, but isn’t based in reality.

The same is true for the eyes. It is creepier to have a Zombie with cloudy, grey, and generally dead eyes. In the book World War Z, one of the characters explains that Zombies don’t blink and their eyes become cloudy as scratches form. 

First we kill the Zombies. Then we kill the spirit of the book.

For us un-undead blinking is an important function. It provides moisture to the eye, allowing us to see nice and clearly. If a human with the Zombie disease didn’t blink, their eyes would dry out, and they would eventually become completely blind.

Real Zombies would be primarily guided by sight and as I mentioned in this previous blog, humans are naturally good at seeing living things compared to inanimate objects.

Unfortunately gaining thermal vision, like the Predator, is out of the realms of possibility for the moment. If we could see the infrared spectrum it would completely overwhelm our eyes.     

Is that the former Governor of California?

So the answer to Lee’s question is that Zombies sense their prey the same way humans do, by seeing, hearing, or smelling them. Lee is right to point out that the damage to their brains is already causing them problems in moving, and in interacting with the world around them. So they’d be utterly terrible at hunting humans - luckily for us!

Next our inquisitive student Nico got back in touch with another question, “What should you do before a zombie crisis ? Buy guns?”

Here at the Zombie Institute we believe that all life is sacred, even Zombie life, and we would never condone or encourage the use of involuntary euthanasia to deal with a Zombieism outbreak. That’s a practice Hitler used, and as a rule, anything Hitler does, we avoid. Tiny mustaches, VW cars, Hugo Boss, etc.

In the event of a Zombie outbreak taking off, there are many excellent government and international agencies who would swoop in to help deal with it. If you look at recent disease outbreaks, Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, and so on, you can see how well they have been dealt with without becoming extreme pandemics akin to the plagues of old.

However, if we take Nico’s question as wondering what to do if, for reasons unknown, the Zombieism disease spreads like we see in fiction there are some things you can do to prepare. As Sun Tzu said, know your enemy. 

All great minds know the work of Sun Tzu. And Paris Hilton, who thinks 'that's hot'

By learning all you can about how diseases work, how to control them, and how to treat them you’ll know how best to proceed. For example, if the disease is viral, swallowing a movie star quantity of antibiotics won’t help a bit. If the disease is spread by a bite, and moves through the body very quickly upon infection, there is little point in chopping off your limbs as a preventative measure. Knowledge is power, and by studying this blog, as well as the information on our Institute website you can begin to get educated. You can also attend our live lectures or tutorials. Find one near you on the Tour Dates section of the website .

There are many excellent guides on the internet to preparing for apocalyptic scenarios, so get researching if you’re concerned. Don’t forget the simple stuff, Zombieland taught us the importance of cardio and I personally love this running app, Zombies Run!. 

I always find sports bras, amazing how these apps know you so well

It has a splendid story intertwined with terrifying Zombie chases. Although, my neighbours have been avoiding me since I began running around shouting about invisible Zombies. And since I got the app too.

So to answer Nico’s question, there are many ways we can prepare for a Zombie disease crisis scenario. But don’t be too scared, here at the Institute we’re looking out for you. As I told the freshman students this week at STD Awareness Day, prevention is better than cure.    

My thanks to Lee and Nico for asking today’s questions. If you have a question you’d like me to answer here in the ZomBlog. Why not leave it as a comment below? Or visit our Book of Faces and ask your question there.

Whatever Zombie knowledge you desire, I’ll do my utmost to oblige.

Take care out there students,

Doctor Austin

Doctor Austin ZITS BSz MSz DPep, is a Theoretical Zombiologist and Head of the Zombie Institute for Theoretical Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland UK.

The brand new lecture Zombie Science: Brain of the Dead is premiering at the London Horror Festival on the 28th & 29th of October 2013, find out more here, (http://www.londonhorrorfestival.com/whats-on/zombie-science-brain-of-the-dead/) and book your tickets by calling 020 7482 4857

The Walking Bred?

Good day to all you fine Zombiology Students,

I’m sure many of you are fans of the Walking Dead¸ whether in the medium of a comic book, novel, computer game or TV series – it’s truly impossible to avoid… and why would you want to? In any form it’s become one of my favourite Zombie worlds since George Romero gave birth to the modern version.

Who wants ice cream? Daddy's buying ice cream!

Being a scientist I’m interested in what Zombieism would be like in real life, and what elements we see in fiction would actually work in reality. The Walking Dead has thrown up a few brain teasing questions that I’m keen to answer. So in today’s ZomBlog I’m going to investigate their version of Zombieism, specifically trying to figure out these two puzzles…

How is the disease being transmitted?

And.

Whether their claim that everyone has the disease, but not everyone has shown symptoms, is really possible?

Why won't you just love me?

Whether intentional or not, Walking Dead makes the clever decision of not explicitly telling us what is causing the disease, making it more fun to theorise on.

"Internally, we don't know where the zombie outbreak started, how to cure it, anything like that," – Glen Mazzara, Show Runner, Walking Dead (TV Series)

“...the rule is: WHATEVER it is that causes the zombies, is something everyone already has. If you stub your toe, get an infection and die ... you turn into a zombie." – Robert Kirkman, Creator, Walking Dead

In the TV series even a CDC disease specialist whose been studying the outbreak for months hasn’t been able to figure out the causative agent.

“It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal…”                                                                                                                     – Dr. Edwin Jenner, Walking Dead, Season 1 Episode 6

Animal, vegetable, mineral ... wait ... what was the question? 

From observation we can make some assumptions about its transmission:

The disease seems to spread through saliva. People contract it after being bitten by infected people. This is much like Rabies. A Rabies infected animal has the virus in its nerves and saliva, and can transmit it to a human through biting. In rarer cases, the animal can spread the virus when its saliva comes in contact with a person's mucous membranes (moist skin surfaces, like the mouth or inner eyelids), or broken skin such as a cut, scratch, bruise or open wound.

In Walking Dead, no one appears to have been infected from indirect contact. For example, the survivors must spend a massive amount of time off camera cleaning up the biological debris left by each action scene. This would inevitably include a few litres of Walker drool. Yet never has a character turned after embarking upon a heavy session of mopping, when perhaps, in the rarest of cases they should. (Exciting idea for Season 4? No expensive make-up or effects, just a mop and 250ml of dirty drool!?!)

Rabies has never been found in blood, perhaps it’s the same with the Walking Dead Zombie disease. This would explain why, despite the characters flip-flopping between being careful to avoid contact with Zombie blood and getting splashed on like a kid at Sea World, they don’t get the illness. 

I told you, this episode we stay clean of Walker bits, next season we'll be like kids in a fountain. Visualise the fountain with me Rick. Visualise. 

Alongside the saliva based transmission we also get a shocking revelation from the only bona fide medical expert we meet in the TV series, shortly before killing himself, when he utters the terrifying line, “every survivor is infected.”

How can everyone be infected but not turn?

An interesting comparison is latent tuberculosis infection. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Some people who are infected by it do not develop the active illness. It simply remains inactive and stays that way in the majority of cases – this is known as latent tuberculosis infection. For a small percentage of people it can eventually become active for a variety of reasons; if their immune system is damaged or compromised, if they become malnourished, or simply when they become older. So our Walking Dead characters may have latent Zombieism infection. A major biological event, such as a severe trauma, or being near death, may be what is activating it.

We've really got to stop letting the Daleks make these posters...

We’ve managed to answer both of our questions today. How is the Walking Dead Zombie disease being spread? It could be like Rabies, in the saliva of the infected Walkers. This would explain why getting covered in blood and guts doesn’t turn anyone. But realistically the characters should be equally afraid of being licked by a Walker as being bitten by one.

Finally, we discovered that it is possible for us humans to be infected by a disease that lies inactive, waiting for certain conditions to get it going. A terrifying thought, I’ll not sleep tonight! 

I do hope you enjoyed this entry, and if any of you out there want to know anything about the real science behind Zombies, do send your questions to info@zombiescience.co.uk, post them in our Book of Faces (www.facebook.com/zombiescience) or get in touch on our website www.zombiescience.co.uk.

Want to know whether cutting off a limb after being bitten would prevent you becoming a Zombie? Or would a pregnant woman who was bitten give birth to a Zombie Baby? Read other ZomBlog's to find out!

Stay Frosty,

Doctor Austin

Doctor Austin ZITS BSz MSz DPep, is a Theoretical Zombiologist and Head of the Zombie Institute for Theoretical Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland UK.