zombies
sciencepunk | August 17, 2009The latest tome of Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress contains an unusual paper investigating the dynamics of a zombie outbreak: "When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection", by four Canadian mathematicians, concludes that the best defence against zombies is to 'hit hard and hit often'. This story broke last week, but I've been so busy that I've not had time to cover it - or read the paper. Thankfully the excellent Mark Henderson at the Times Science Blog has got my back with an excellent article that includes some extra curious info not…
purepedantry | August 17, 2009The abstract says it all:
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…
sciencepunk | May 16, 2009As the last Zombie Identification Card was so popular, here's another. As you can see, my art is improving. All criticisms / suggestions welcome. The next will probably be Ampulex, simply because it's a strong visual, but I'd also like to makes some cards referencing other forms of zombification - i.e. Robert G. Heath's attempts to control psychiatric disorders using electrodes implanted into the brain.
Sacculina spp is a parasite of crabs.
bioephemera | April 12, 2009
Zombie Stomper by Iron Fist, via Haute Macabre
Yup - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is the project the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is doing next. While my review of P&P&Z was pretty positive, I'm not sure I can in good conscience encourage this trend.
Also, note that while P&P&Z has surged to the top of the bestseller list, the New Yorker was not as charitable in its review as I was. Perhaps these shoes by Iron Fist might serve as a litmus test for whether you are likely to enjoy P&P&Z. Tongue-in-cheek fun or thoroughly foul? You be the judge!