Posted 02.24.2011 at 10:22 am
33 Comments
Dead Head
Infectious proteins called prions could shut down parts of the brain and leave others intact, creating a zombie.
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Maybe, but it’s not going to be easy. In West African and Haitian vodou, zombies are humans without a soul, their bodies nothing more than shells controlled by powerful sorcerers. In the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, an army of shambling, slow-witted, cannibalistic corpses reanimated by radiation attack a group of rural Pennsylvanians. We are looking for something a little in between Haiti and Hollywood: an infectious agent that will render its victims half-dead but still-living shells of their former selves.
See our gallery of real live zombies in nature.
An effective agent would target, and shut down, specific parts of the brain, says Steven C. Schlozman, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and author of The Zombie Autopsies, a series of fictional excerpts from the notebooks of “the last scientist sent to the United Nations Sanctuary for the study of ANSD,” a zombie plague. Schlozman explained to PopSci that although the walking dead have some of their motor skills intact—walking, of course, but also the ripping and tearing necessary to devour human flesh—the frontal lobe, which is responsible for morality, planning, and inhibiting impulsive actions (like taking a bite out of someone), is nonexistent. The cerebellum, which controls coordination, is probably still there but not fully functional. This makes sense, since zombies in movies are usually easy to outrun or club with a baseball bat.
The most likely culprit for this partially deteriorated brain situation, according to Schlozman, is as simple as a protein. Specifically, a proteinaceous infectious particle, a prion. Not quite a virus, and not even a living thing, prions are nearly impossible to destroy, and there’s no known cure for the diseases they cause.
The first famous prion epidemic was discovered in the early 1950s in Papua New Guinea, when members of the Fore tribe were found to be afflicted with a strange tremble. Occasionally a diseased Fore would burst into uncontrollable laughter. The tribe called the sickness “kuru,” and by the early ’60s doctors had traced its source back to the tribe’s cannibalistic funeral practices, including brain-eating.
Prions gained notoriety in the 1990s as the infectious agents that brought us bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. When a misshapen prion enters our system, as in mad cow, our mind develops holes like a sponge. Brain scans from those infected by prion-based diseases have been compared in appearance to a shotgun blast to the head.
Now, if we’re thinking like evil geniuses set on global destruction, the trick is going to be attaching a prion to a virus, because prion diseases are fairly easy to contain within a population. To make things truly apocalyptic, we need a virus that spreads quickly and will carry the prions to the frontal lobe and cerebellum. Targeting the infection to these areas is going to be difficult, but it’s essential for creating the shambling, dim-witted creature we expect.
Jay Fishman, director of transplant infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, proposes using a virus that causes encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain’s casing. Herpes would work, and so would West Nile, but attaching a prion to a virus is, Fishman adds, “a fairly unlikely” scenario. And then, after infection, we need to stop the prion takeover so that our zombies don’t go completely comatose, their minds rendered entirely useless. Schlozman suggests adding sodium bicarbonate to induce metabolic alkalosis, which raises the body’s pH and makes it difficult for proteins like prions to proliferate. With alkalosis, he says, “you’d have seizures, twitching, and just look awful like a zombie."
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"In West African and Haitian vodou, zombies are humans without a soul, their bodies nothing more than shells controlled by powerful sorcerers"....So wait for the next Ipad launch, March 2nd you will be able to see hoards of zombies at your local electronics stores.
Mechete..........Check
Shotgun..........Check
Sniperrifle......Check
Tons of ammo.....Check
Lets rock and roll!!!
@truth6575
guns are illegal in britain so for me...
Broadsword
War Hammer
Battle Axe
Bow & Arrow
Metal baseball bat
No ammo needed... ;)
from lakewood, co
My research indicates that in order to effectively attach the prions to a virus we are going to need a substrate that both can meld with on the atomic level. I've been having moderate success with hybrid polymer research but it's not all the way there yet.
The Apocalypse is just a simple poison that is triggered by solar flare. The radio controlled poison has already been dropped .When activated you will simply die of a heart attack. If we drink from he holly grail ,we will live, but that would be too simple.
the most plausible form of zombifying parasites I've seen yet are headcrabs, from Half Life.
I guess the next level would be the resident evil type zombies where whole parts of zombies are missing, but zombies are still going. Don't forget the mutant zombies. What would be in the "T-virus?" Prion-carrying, self replicating, viral Nanobots?
38KKK
*D Ace Lee*
\m/(>.<)\m/
Left 4 Dead.....check
@kyro
looks like the Britians will fall first because your bats got to bent from hitting zombie heads(ur chinese made axes will chip to easily)...we might have broken wrists from shooting our AMERICAN GUNS to much at zombies
@Kryo
guns are illegal in britain so for me...
Broadsword
War Hammer
Battle Axe
Bow & Arrow
Metal baseball bat
No ammo needed... ;)
Well the only thing I'd say is correct here is the Bow and Arrow. Arrows can be re-made by fletchers or someone who knows how to re-create arrows and as long as your good at aiming then your going to have a weapon that may last longer then a gun.
Still I'd recommend both a gun, a crossbow or bow and arrow, and possibly a spear gun from a scuba diving kit. When it comes to it you may even want to use the scuba divers protection against shark bites the chain mail wetsuit.
It all mattered on the type of Zombie we would come across. If they made the slow reacting and moving zombie called the Crawlers then they could easily be counter-attacked and killed off but if their faster moving like the Dawn of the Dead zombies also known as Hunters then we're likely screwed unless you have grinding machines placed along side the out-side of your city as a barrier.
@Kryo
Lol i find it cute that everyone thinks their a samurai just cause they have a collection of swords and med-evil crap in there household when they reference them being in a zombie Apocalypse.
This is some interesting stuff. but i do remember a story about a dog in a foreign country somewhere getting a blood transfusion after having a certain brain worm, Also the dog was declared dead at the time. After 5 minutes or so it came back to life. legally in downing it a title of a undead creature.
@illbanana
Correct good sir
It looks like the 2nd amendment would protect more than the 1st amendment in this case.
What Is Science but A Continual Lesson of The Challenge To Studying The Entire Known Existence of Everything.
-Truth-
funny, i had a zombie scenario dream last night, it was sweeet
locked and loaded, good to go
bring it on
@truth6575
There are no fingerprints
Deep under water
Nothing to tie one to a crime
And if you seek vengeance
All you need are instruments of pain
You need your
Knives? Check.
Rope? Check.
Dagger? Check.
Chains? Check.
Rocks? Check.
Laser Beams? Check.
Acid? Check.
Body Bag? Check.
Murmaider [x16]
But beware
For when you quench your bloodthirst
Others will seek vengeance on you
And they won't rest
Until you're dead
They'll have their
Shiv? Check.
Pipe? Check.
Hammer? Check.
Axe? Check.
Subject? Check.
Location? Check.
Desire? Check.
Vengeance? Check.
Hold your breath, swim and strain
The smell of death, can't escape
Blood will cloud and drift away
Attract the murders of Murmaids
It's so cold they all know
What you've done, you can't run
Vengeance is the law for thee
A thousand leagues below the sea
You've been tracked, you've been seen
Murdering the next of kin
Ate their hearts drank their blood
Washed your fins in blackened mud
Now you swim try to hide
Heart beats faster from inside
Thought it was a big charade
Your life was ended by Murmaids.
Murmaider [x16]
Swords? Check.
Saws? Check.
Clubs? Check.
Claws? Check.
Hatred? Check.
Anger? Check.
Mermaid? Check.
Murder? Check.
MURDER! MURDER! MURMAID MURDER! X4
Your life was ended by mermaids.
[ Lyrics from: lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dethklok/murmaider.html ]
funny article...
I think the whole idea of zombies originally came from rabid dogs. Rabid dogs exhibit very zombie like symptoms...they foam at the mouth, are more aggressive and start losing fur in patches. So I think in order to turn a human into a zombie you basically need to give them rabies.
Rabid dog does not walk slow. Tey run fast. If somebie thing originated from raid dogs, chance 100% you'll become one of them at first bite.
Just climbed up as high as you can man.
Oh! and packed many foods with you too.
@truth6575
You forgot FIRE....Fire good
so i was playing with my legos a few days ago, and i realized that i had built something dangerous with lego's.
i have a wire fed welder, a stick welder at my neighbors house, and an old set of metal shelves, i live in a small rural town about 4 hours away from albany. i will make something more dangerous than anything a zombie apocalypse could throw at me.
I'm thinking scythes, scycles, and a big freaking sword. a wind turbine or two to keep things lit, then i'll take this time of utter chaos to get the supplies needed to finally fix up my house...
and thermite, lotsa thermite, maybe a thermite moat!
from coral gables, fl
Surprising there's no link to the much older and more thorough couple of CRACKED articles on the subject.
One explains the 5 best reasons a zombie apocalypse could actually happen, the other is the 7 scientific reasons a zombie outbreak would fail quickly.
The most viable zombie potential - the fact that over 50% of our population is infected with a virus that easily controls the minds of other species.
The best reason zombies wouldn't win the war against humans - well for one most zombie stories claim the only way to spread the virus is getting bitten, and thats just inefficient, as quoted from the cracked article "remember that time when that dog got rabies, and then a day later, every single other dog on the continent had it, except for a small band of survivors huddled in a basement?". Well there's that, the fact that humans would no longer be at the top of the food chain if we weren't so damn clever, and the fact that there are some of us with enough weapons and ammo to eradicate any zombie threat.
If you like this topic and want to see some articles that do it justice, I would recommend reading CRACKED.
@deadzombie I don't think I'm a samurai, I just think that those weapons have been perfected as human killing devices over thousands of years and hence are good at killing zombies
Working with prions is ridiculously challenging. Give up before you start!
Now nano-machines are an ENTIRELY better alternative. Given a bit more tech development we could EASILY program the right biochemical machinery to do just about anything. Want to target specific brain areas? No prob. Blood-brain barrier...ditto. All I need to do is understand what makes my target tissue or organ distinctive and create a test-driven attack mechanism. If I go after a specific brain area, I can tailor make zombies to perform particular tasks.
In many respects hypnosis already does this. For that matter, so do sales, marketing, NLP, and many various "therapies" purposed to change a subject's (i.e. a person's) behavior into something collectively deemed more desirable by some "expert" or a group of such experts.
Then there's psych "medications." Here an external actor is given (or takes) the authority to determine for others what are "good" and "healthy" behaviors. Medications either produce desired outcomes or are changed. Those subject to such authority are at grave risk. What may begin as a mild tendency to be energetic is first diagnosed as ADHD, and perhaps next as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. If you think creating zombies requires prions or even nano-bots, you've probably never met people on strong "anti-psychotic" meds. The government was an early dabbler with such drugs as they held great promise for short-circuiting (or at least attenuating) all sorts of higher brain functions such as long-term memory formation, moral weighting and unethical-behavior-aversion--allowing for more compliant warriors and agents.
Then there are computers. Moore's law applies to WAY more than memories and processors. In less than 3 decades computers will be able to run anatomically and statistically derived theories of mind capable of predicting in detail our internal intellectual and emotional states. This will enable such computers to not only emulate us, but to manipulate us. Whoever owns such a technology could dispense not only with sales and marketing, but with hypnosis, drugs and every other form of manipulation. Instead they will simply observe us long enough (or deep enough--perhaps by using passive scanners capable of capturing our brain's state vector) to identify the least stable, most motivating transients, then suggesting the most probable means of altering them to achieve desired outcomes.
Zombification is already well underway as I see it. Video games, television, widespread sexual deviancy and promiscuity, PTSD, and all sorts of "recreational" drugs and behaviors are all contributing to distort personalities more than ever before. Everyone is future shocked. On top of that, we're rapidly approaching at least one technological singularity--and possibly many (such as raw computing, mind/intelligence emulation, nanotechnology, and technological/biological integration).
The pace of change appears to be growing geometrically. It's not merely accelerating, but the rate of acceleration is itself increasing. We're constantly pulling more socio-technological g-forces. This trend has already crushed economies and individuals. In time it can do little else but crush everything we recognize as humanity. Authors like Vernor Vinge, Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow have digested the controversial evidence of futurists such as Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec (and even oldies like Isaac Asmimov and Arthur C. Clarke) to paint a bleak picture of the future of humanity.
All of this might be considered zombification.
IF
our computational descendants are as morally bankrupt as our society today (from which they are rising), and
our ability to assimilate ever more rapidly advancing technology falls universally short, and
we abdicate our control to our aforementioned computational descendants,
THEN
we’re already on a course toward complete global zombification,
we may already be largely there, and
it might truly be what we want to be—don’t worry (or even think)…be happy!
slower buddy... check
Uuuuhhh, wait a minute. I haven't seen any zombie movies but im pretty sure zombies are BAD. I mean come on. Really? Why would you invent zombies? What could possibly be good about that? Think people.
Me again, and I just want to add that this article is confusing. Have we invented it yet? Does it already exist? Here's some advice for Ryan: Be clearer in your writing. Make one statement. And if thats to hard, try ending your articles like this: THE DISEASE IS OUT THERE. And one more thing: Hooray! Jews didn't murder Jesus!
we make a virus to make zombies.
then it adapts, spreads to the scientists working on it.
then they spread to the guards.
then to everyone else.
basically swine flew
""" attack a group of rural Pennsylvanians """
Nope, sorry, "Night of the Living Dead" was set in rural Maryland.
rodreilly
@truth6575
guns are illegal in britain so for me...
Broadsword
War Hammer
Battle Axe
Bow & Arrow
Metal baseball bat
No ammo needed... ;)
I like all of that^^^^
but
I'd go with a Battle Mace instead of a metal baseball bat. More destruction and more satisfying kills. Plus, you do need ammo for a Bow and Arrow set so...yeah...good luck! Btw, if zombies are chasing us, I'm tripping you. Lol
Wait, im confused. The virus that the prions are supposed attatch to needs to target the frontal lobe and cerebellum. So why did the scientist guy propose a virus that causes encephalitis. Im pretty sure that that doesn't target the frontal lobe or cerebellum.
I've played enough black ops to know what I'm doing...
Wonderwaffe (wonderwaffle)... check
Thundergun... check
Sally... check
Mustang... check
Calamity... check
Jane.. check
Porter's X2 Raygun... check
Now for the MOST important, I can't live without...
Shades... Check
2012 exactly whats going to happen. Better get my stuff ready.
~Mr. Noel~
bring it on. i have everything I need.
God
My Boys
Guns
Ammo
Katanas
Knives
Fire power
This is all a girl needs