I’ve seen enough zombie apocalypse movies to know that a zombie takeover would be very, very bad news for planet Earth. But how likely is it that zombies could be a reality?
We generally think of zombies as bodies that have come back from the dead to attack humans. As students of science we know that once a body is dead, it cannot come back alive. However, there are parasites or “neurotropic viruses that attack our brains and cause aggressive or bizarre behavior.” For example, rabies is a disease that once contracted by being bitten by an infected animal. The disease makes you go insane and feel the urge to bite others in order to infect them. (Dell’Amore)
Another zombie like health issue could be the parasite toxoplasmosa gondii that controls rats’ brains. The parasite is eaten and lives in a rat, but is only able to reproduce when inside the gut of a cat. The parasite controls the rats’ brains to force them to hang around cats so they will be eaten by a cat and the parasite will be able to reproduce. In studies, infected rats hung around spots that were sprayed with cat urine, whereas healthy rats panicked when near areas with the smell of urine. On the bright side, we are not rats, but if this parasite evolves more we could be in trouble.
Having our mind controlled by parasites or viruses may not be a huge threat to our species today, but being left in a “zombie” or almost lifeless like state because of neuro toxins could be a bigger as the threat of biological warfare increases. Some poisons can “slow your bodily functions to the point that you’ll be considered dead”. The drugs that relives the victims leaves the patient in a trance, with no memory and only able to do simple tasks including moaning and eating.
A little more far fetched of a theory of how a zombie apocalypse could come about is through a combination of new ground-breaking scientific discoveries. In recent years scientists have been able in a suspended state so that it can be brought back to life later. Also doctors have the ability to regrow brains, like those in coma patients with brain injuries. Labs are dedicated to “‘reanimating’ a person”. With this process the brain would not have to have a cortex since “all you need is the stem and you’ll still be able to mindlessly walk and eat”. We could have real life zombies walking around because of science and not the supernatural.
I personally do not think scientist would ever intend or try to create humans like this though. Even if they were created, they would not be blood-thirsty, infecting creatures like we see in movies. If zombies were created because poisons or viruses or parasites, we might have a bigger issue. As the threat of biological warfare increases, the thought of modified viruses and parasites or advanced toxins becomes more of a possibility. These weapons could be used to break down our nervous systems and make us in to zombies potentially. However, as science advances for the worse, it also advances for the better and hopefully scientist could quickly find a cure to these dangerous threats.
“Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Mind Control: Science Fiction in the News.” Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Mind Control: Science Fiction in the News. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=547>.
What an interesting topic that got me to really start thinking. This blog raises a lot of questions in the science realm. When I really got to thinking I began to get very curious as to what would actually happen to us humans if scientist infected us and turned us into zombies. Although in today’s society this may seem very unethical, my mind starts to wonder and think about what could happen in the future. As technology evolves maybe turning humans into zombies in a controlled environment won’t be as unethical as it is today. When we watch these television shows in zombies such as the Walking Dead we seem to mold our mind into thinking these insane shows are completely fictional; after reading your blog it brings about the question is it as fictional as we think? The idea of parasites modifying the human brain is over all scary in a sense that no one really wants to not be in control of their actions. Very scary thoughts. Anyways, overall this was a great post that opened my mind and informed me. Take a look at this website that matches pretty closely to your blog about how humans could develop into zombies if scientifically tested. This website is stating that there are real zombies in Haiti . This brings up a controversy if you are passionate and really interested in what you wrote about…take a look
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/08/the-mysterious-real-zombies-of-haiti/
This topic is both interesting and concerning. There are so many crippling diseases that interfere with the quality of life, and this is bringing awareness to yet another one of such diseases. The description reminded me a lot of people who suffer major brain or spinal injuries and are left in a “vegetable” state. If the “zombies” can only eat and moan, then are they really living despite the fact that their hearts are still beating? It’s a debate that is strongly rooted in opinion and unlikely to ever be settled. I would also be interested to know if had the “zombies” been cured, would they return to life as they were or would they be somehow changed from their time in that half-alive/half-dead state. Shows like “The Walking Dead” bring a lot of attention to the topic, but it’s not something that I considered to be possible….until now.
This was a very interesting post. I wonder if scientists ever really tried to make “zombies”. But also I just think its so interesting what the brain can really do on its own. How it can still control our bodies without us even knowing. It’s still very weird to me how our brains can be regrown. I would have never thought a parasite that can control the brain. I would like to see an experiment to see what really happens to the rat when this happens even though that could be kind of sad. I don’t really think scientists would go that far to conduct an experiment to see if they can make these blood thirsty zombies… hopefully not haha. Great post!
Wow. Crazy to think that science could actually deprogram your brain and ultimately make a zombie. I never thought about how rabies a commonly known disease spread by the bite of an animal basically causes people to turn into zombies. People go insane and want to bite others aka a zombie. I never really looked into the phenomena of parasites causing zombies bit its cool and frightening to think that parasites can do this to your brain. Really cool topic I was very intrigued and it caught my eye immediately.