What Do Real Scientists Think About Zombies?

Zombies are fictional.  But, they are an interesting and publicly accessible scenario for people to understand and reference when thinking about more complicated disasters such as civil unrest and contagious diseases.

Photo by Arno roca' s eyes [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

But, what do real scientists think about Zombies?  A recent article in Maxim Magazine looks to a bona fide scientist, Dr. Tara C. Smith, "a microbiologist and infectious disease epidemiologist" at Kent State University to get an opinion on the question: Just How Bad Would A Zombie Apocalypse Really Be? A Scientist Explains, You can read her tongue-in-cheek paper here.

Last year, Cornell University researchers created an online tool called ZombieTownUSA to show how a Zombie outbreak could spread.  It was covered by this Fox News article.  You can access their tool here at ZombieTownUSA.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a blog, posters, and several other interesting items related to Zombies.  They use Zombies as an example to inspire preparedness for less glamorous epidemics and disasters.  You can visit their zombie page here.

When it comes to zombies, disasters, epidemics, and communicable diseases, it never hurts to -

Get A Kit

Make A Plan

Be Prepared