We all know what zombies are, from all kinds of movies and shows that try to show what a zombie really looks like and what a zombie apocalypse looks like. Have you ever wondered what a zombie outbreak could really look like? Research shows that zombies could exist or be created because viruses, bacterial infections and fungi and many other things, show symptoms of possible zombie behavior.
Humans can get infected by Fungi. Fungi exist in most of the world’s forests. Fungi, trees and other plants have a symbiotic relationship exchanging nutrients. Studies show that chemical signals can be transmitted from one plant to another via fungi. Which means that fungi filaments could perform both vascular and neural functions within a corpse. A fungus carries nutrients to muscles in the absence of respiration. Fungi grows within the brain, were it interfaces with the medulla and cerebellum. Fungi releases chemicals that activate basic responses within these brain areas. A fungus is able to convert chemical signals that can be transmitted by fungi that extend through much of the body. The signal method is slow and imperfect, which results in the uncoordinated movements of zombies. The fungus needs metabolize meat, and zombies seem to be able to function. A fungus evolves to extract energy and nutrients from meat into carnivorous plants. The fungi might draw energy from the decay of the host’s organic material, which means that it puts an effective shelf life on zombies.
A fungal species existed that used the digestive tracts of mammals to travel.
Animals ingested the fungus, including spores. The host’s immune system could destroy the fungus. Once the host has died, the mutations could lead to spores.
Pigs, which are omnivorous, coul...
... middle of paper ...
...ed to transfer into a new host.
The last act of a Nanobot zombie would be to bite a hole in a healthy victim, letting nanobots to steam in and set up camp in the new host. Once they’re in, they can shut down the part of the brain that resists (The cortex) and leaves the brain stem intact. In the future, runaway microscopic nanobots will end civilization by flowing the plant with cannibalistic undead.
Works Cited
Grabianowski, Ed. "How a Zombie Outbreak Could Happen in Real Life." io9. Ed
Grabianowski, 6 June 2012. Web. 18 May 2014. .
Lee, Grant . "5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen." NJC Science
Technology. Grant Lee, 22 June 2013. Web. 20 May 2014.
.
“The zombie frenzy is growing, and it has cast its shuffling shadow on nature, mathematics, biology, and survival. So what can these shambling monsters teach us?” (Seifert 62) Before one can talk about zombies, one must first understand what a zombie is. The Oxford English Dictionary is known to be the most comprehensive dictionary in existence, its definition for the word ‘zombie’ may not be up to date anymore. In the dictionary, it describes a zombie as one of the Vodou zombies from Africa and Haiti and not any of the un-dead creatures seen today. Informally, zombies nowadays are described as a very aggressive, reanimated human corpse that is driven by a biological sickness or infection (Mogk 5-6). The effects these informal zombies have on people are starting to show in recent generations from young children up to grown adults. Whether these changes are for the better or not remains to be unseen but to prevent these changes to worsen, the portrayal of zombies in media should be changed to positively affect current generations.
A zombie is a monster that has been a horror movie legacy for many years now. Zombie is defined as “a dead person who is able to move because of magic according to some religions and in stories, movies, etc.” Zombies haven’t always been the creature that we see today though. George A. Romero merged the old-forgotten zombie into the standardized version we see today. James Conroy writes, “With his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, George Romero brought the concept of the slow-moving, flesh-eating zombie into mainstream American culture.” (1) Night of the Living Dead not only set an iconic image for zombies, but it also brought issues you would not normally see in a Zombie film, dealing with race and gender stereotypes.
Zombies have become very popular due to their depictions of being easy to kill and being communal. Zombie apocalypses are also very relatable due to the fact that they are set in lives similar to our society and seem easy to overcome. Zombies, themselves, can be identified with because we see ourselves when we look at a zombie. Zombies drudge on through the same task of finding human flesh to consume every day just like we drag ourselves to either class or our job in order to sit through another boring lecture or perform the same menial task every day. Just like the zombie, R, in the book, Warm Bodies, said, “I am Dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it,” we have learned to succumb to our daily routines and just live with
We don’t see anything resembling a zombie until the third act. Even then, the “monsters” aren’t mindless brain eaters. They’re just decomposing at an accelerated rate.
Kirkman describes zombies as an infectious horror in order to establish a close relationship between zombies and contagions. One of the The Walking Dead’s most brilliant successes has been the characterization of the zombies , and it may be the secret of their popularity. In his book, The Walking Dead, Kirkman
Changes in factors such as temperature and rainfall, which can affect the growth of the fungus in the environment and how much of it is circulating in the air.
Since the inception of the human race, society have always terrified that by the fact that something unexpected could happen and end the human race. With Hollywood producing more Zombie Apocalypse movies, the society have come to believe that the end of human races is indeed possible, whether it is virus or radiation that change humans into Zombies. In case of a Zombies Apocalypse, the Pentagon already has a plan to over the Zombies but we as humans also have our responsibilities to protect ourselves and our planet. In order to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, one must be fully prepared and most importantly know how to defend yourself.
In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were eventually eliminated. Or were they? Theorists argue that the monster’s elusiveness is due to its physical, psychological and social characteristics that cross the lines of classification. Human’s innate fear of the unknown is due to their inability to make a distinction or draw a clear conclusion. This is explained further in Jeffrey Cohen’s second thesis in “Monster Theory” that claims that; “the monster never escapes” (Cohen, 14). The zombie as a monster can never be destroyed completely and if it is, it leaves a remnant the make people feel uncertain of its destruction. Base on Cohen’s theory, the zombie’s different interpretation allows it to emerge in other forms (a faster, smarter zombie?)
Coccidioides immitues is transmitted by airborne transmission. A human can breath in the fungi spores and if it reaches the lungs, it can cause flu like symptoms and an upper respiratory infection. The fungi are normally destroyed in the lungs, but occasionally it grows and produces lots of endospores within the cell. Then if the cell lyses and releases the endospores, the endospores can then be transported by the blood to other parts of the body. The endospores can then get into the central nervous system and in the brain where they will germinate. After they germinate, it can cause a disease where most patients experience an allergic reaction to the fungus that causes reddening off the skin referred to as desert bumps (volk 2002).
The zombie race is very different. It doesn't not have many abilities and is not advanced like humans. Their behavior patterns are different. They cannot stand cold or winter weather. Their behavior is very different and difficult to calculate. They usually stand around lingering and waiting to attack when they hear something. They follow noises.Some abilities that they do have is that they have excellent hearing and can walk but aren't blind.The also can smell human blood. Zombies are generally weak but don’t underestimate what they can do to a human.
With the zombie metaphor referring to uncontrollable fears in today’s modern society, the thriller is a realistic speculation about an airborne virus entering the human species and spreading on a global scale. With influenza outbreaks being a familiar scenario within modern society, the fear of an uncontrollable disease sends shockwaves of fear through the human race, especially when a vaccine has yet to be found and distributed, like in the film. The fear of a viral infection spreading stems from the idea that people do not simply “give” another individual the virus; a virus is a form of life that evolves and mutates in order to survive environmental changes. This virus searches for a new vulnerable host in order to survive and carry the disease to the next victim. The critical aspect around the spread of a virus is how drastically the reproduction process occurs. Without being controlled, the contamination throughout any species causes the spread to take place in a toxic way, “On day one, there were two people. And then, four and then, sixteen. In three months, it’s a billion. That’s where we’re heading” (Dr. Erin Mears, Contagion). Though the zombie metaphor focuses primarily on fear involving unconscious contributors and their mission of adding to their population, the fear of governmental control and how society responds to the epidemic is also an issue that needs to be considered. In this scenario, the viral
“Zombie killings are similar to reading and deleting 400 work e-mails on a Monday morning or filling out paperwork that only generates more paperwork, or following Twitter gossip out of obligation, or performing tedious tasks in which the only true risk is being consumed by avalanche” (41). These are all similar to zombie killings because zombies will never go away unless you turn to really harsh tactics like aiming for one’s brain with a shot gun and repeating this for every zombie you come in contact with. In order to clear those 400 emails after reading them you must repeat the steps for each and every one, which is time consuming and can be very frustrating. Completing paperwork is very tedious, and can sometimes become overwhelming you may begin to feel as if it will never end which is common well it can feel similar to that when it comes to zombie killings as well because there will be one zombie followed by another one and many more to come. “Battling zombies is like battling anything….. Or everything” (42). Never assume the war is over because it is not, there will be one or more zombies hiding out, the war is never over. “The zombies you kill today will merely be replaced by the zombies of tomorrow” (44). Zombies are a “live-stock” they are brain dead but they travel in packs and have no limit as to how far they will go. In the movie Dawn of the Dead the zombies actually
A zombie apocalypse is absolutely a possibility. When take a closer look there are many possibilities to which an apocalypse could happen. All though it may not be as Hollywood or video games have led us all to believe. The whole lumbering, brain-dead corpse thing has become a little overrated now-a-days, at least for me anyway. Today when we think about a zombie apocalypse we think of popular video games or movies released by some truly sick and demented people, who by the way probably have way too much time on their hands. There are many possibilities to where a human can be turned into a “zombie”. Disease, disease has been with humans as long as humans have lived in this Earth. When we look all throughout history we can see the evolution of disease. In England during the Middle Ages the Bubonic Plague is a perfect example. It hit the British pretty hard, took them absolutely by surprise. They had never seen anything like that in the past, there was never any way to treat the disease, you just avoided it, and as soon as you were infected, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, you were already dead. Egypt, another good example, there has been recently discovered hieroglyphs revealing a depiction of what appeared to be a horde of zombies. The scribes wrote it describing them as possessed and ferocious. Some people say zombies, while others say the product of an overactive imagination. Let’s take a look at today’s possible “zombie” diseases.
First of all, we all know that zombies are like blind fish swimming in the ocean. They can’t walk very fast, and they aren’t smart, but always make sure to have some weapons and items with you when a zombie apocalypse starts. Have a knife so you’ll be able to kill the zombies or your friends if you loathe them. Also, make sure to have a gun and
Zombies can be one of two things: a fictional undead monster or a hypnotized human being controlled by a bokor. These two kinds of zombies arise from that of theorized actual happenings and from the mind of those in pop culture. Zombies are a concept that will forever remain in the minds of those around us, but the possibility of the world succumbing to zombies is very dubious.