When Zombies Attack!

Okay, this is my last post about zombies. I promise*.

If anyone was wondering why exactly this blogger’s going to be a scientist, check this out.

“Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently, we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular, impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.”

Published in: Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress, Editors: J.M. Tchuenche and C. Chiyaka, pp. 133-150, ISBN 978-1-60741-347-9.

*lie

World War Z

I am only on page eleven, but I already know this is going to be the best read of 2009. Quote Wikipedia: “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (abbreviated WWZ) is a 2006 horror, post-apocalyptic novel by Max Brooks. (…) Rather than a grand overview or a single perspective, World War Z is a collection of individual accounts in the form of interviews of the characters by the author. Brooks plays the role of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission who published the novel a decade after the Zombie War in this fictional future after the United Nations left out much of his work from the official report, as it chose to focus on the facts and figures of the war rather than the human aspects he included. The novel charts a decade-long war against zombies from the viewpoint of many different people and nationalities. In addition, the personal accounts describe the changing religious, geo-political, and environmental aftermath of the Zombie War.” Quote Simon Pegg: “An absolute must have… Brooke infuses his writing with such precise detail and authenticity, one wonders if he knows something we don’t.” — It’s alternative history, it’s got a zombie outbreak on a global scale, and it’s written in a way that feels so captivatingly real you just can’t put it away. What’s not to love?

Zombieland

“You gotta enjoy the little things in life.” Click to watch the (awesome) trailer. In cinema October 9.