Science Of THE WALKING DEAD (Part One): Brains And Hunting
[It is with great pleasure that ScreenAnarchy welcomes Matt Mogk, the Founder and Head Researcher of the Zombie Research Society, for the first in what we hope will be a long series of pieces investigating the science of the undead.]
AMC's new zombie series, The Walking Dead, grabbed more viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic in its season one finale than any other drama series in the history of basic cable in the United States. It may also have singlehandedly saved the slow zombie on screen.
Though there remains a strong market for the traditional shamblers in print and gaming, it seems most filmmakers have latched on to the fast zombie craze of late. But with its wild success, the television adaptation of Robert Kirkman's long running graphic novel has no doubt been a pivotal force behind a renewed relevance of the slow moving hordes.
In a recent interview, Kirkman told me that he closely modeled his undead world on George Romero's original incarnation of the modern zombie in Night of the Living Dead (1968). In both the walking corpses relentlessly seek out warm flesh. They eat any living animal within reach, not just humans. And they use tools and weapons, and seem to have some ability to learn.
However, unlike Night's flesh eaters the zombies of The Walking Dead hunt primarily by sense of smell. They can climb fences and overcome complex obstacles. And they work together, using vocalization to call other ghouls to a newfound meal.
As entertainment, The Walking Dead is top notch. In this era of sprinting zombies, sparkling vampires, and wizards with their own theme park rides, it's refreshing to see that serious monster traditions are being properly honored. But from a scientific and survival perspective, does the series measure up? Though not its mission, will lessons from The Walking Dead increase your chances of staying alive when the real undead menace comes clawing at your front door?
Firstly, it's important to note that anyone who tells you s/he knows exactly what zombies will look like and how they will function is doomed to be wrong. We'll never know the full extent of the threat we face until it's too late. But through hard scientific investigation we can hopefully come closer to a full understand of the truth behind the walking dead.
DO THEY HUNT BY SMELL?
Though popular belief suggests that zombies may make a constant, distinctive moaning sound, even if they don't vocalize at all the smell of their rotting flesh would likely be enough to announce their presence at a great distance.
No scent is more distinctive or revolting than death. A dead rodent under the stairs or behind a wall is enough to putrefy an entire small home. Zombies occupy decaying human corpses, so imagine that stink multiplied by 100, or even 1,000!
This notion also brings up an important question related to the zombie hunting style: can they sniff out prey? Even if they are physically able to access a sense of smell, it could be argued that because of their own strong odor zombies can't smell anything, and therefore would not use that sense when tracking humans.
However, is it possible that the undead benefit from some form of postmortem super-smell? Strangely enough, the answer may stem from a common side effect observed in users of psychedelic drugs.
Hyperosmia is a condition in humans that causes an acute increase in the ability to smell. It is often seen in patients with cluster headaches or migraines, but tests have shown that recreational use of LSD can result in the same or similar outcome.
As it is commonly accepted that zombies are driven by their brain, it stands to reason that a brain disorder affording the living a tremendous increase in their sense of smell may also be at work in the undead.
Furthermore, people suffering from Addison's disease, a disorder wherein the adrenal glands produce insufficient steroid hormones, are also inclined to suffer from Hyperosmia. Because zombies are likely not producing needed hormones with their limited body functions, a de facto Addison's scenario could be at work.
ARE THEY JUST BRAIN STEM?
In The Walking Dead we see a scan on the human brain as it makes the transition from living, to dead, to zombie, revealing that the undead only use their brain stem to drive forward in their endless search for food. The rest of the brain is dark and empty, with no activity whatsoever. Is this an accurate depiction?
Timothy Verstynen, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh. Bradley Voytek, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley. Together their interest in theoretical neuroscience, and fascination with zombie behavior, has driven them to create a complete three dimensional model of the zombie brain. From that, Voytek and Verstynen find that the walking dead could not function using only their brain stem.
Though zombies aren't thought to use higher brain functions, like creating complex arguments or reciting Shakespeare, their impressive ability to move through space speaks to a vast network of interactivity throughout multiple regions of the brain. By way of example, the brightest minds on the planet have yet to create a life sized humanoid robot that can move through space as well as even the most awkward zombie.
Despite millions of man-hours and billions of research dollars, robots can't avoid rotting bodies in the road, or navigate cracked curbsides and burned out porch stairs. They can't maintain balance while grabbing, pulling and eating their struggling victims alive. They can't kneel to feast upon the guts of their fallen prey. What they can do is walk in a straight line on a surgically smooth surface, then turn around and walk back again.
What's more, if zombies only use their brain stems a bullet to the head would do little to slow them down. Their entire upper skull and white matter would be little more than a decoy, eating up precious time and ammunition. Buried deep inside the lower brain, the stem would keep the monster charging forward even as the entire top half of its head was removed. Because this flies in the face of nearly all depictions of the undead of the last forty years, including those in The Walking Dead, zombies clearly need much of their brain to function from both a scientific and dramatic standpoint.
Like most areas of zombie scientific investigation, more research is required to get to the heart of this question.
Written by Matt Mogk
Founded in 2007, the Zombie Research Society (ZRS) is dedicated to raising the level of zombie scholarship in the Arts and Sciences. ZRS Members represent diverse backgrounds, interests, and theories, but are unified in their support of the Society's three foundational principles:
AMC's new zombie series, The Walking Dead, grabbed more viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic in its season one finale than any other drama series in the history of basic cable in the United States. It may also have singlehandedly saved the slow zombie on screen.
Though there remains a strong market for the traditional shamblers in print and gaming, it seems most filmmakers have latched on to the fast zombie craze of late. But with its wild success, the television adaptation of Robert Kirkman's long running graphic novel has no doubt been a pivotal force behind a renewed relevance of the slow moving hordes.
In a recent interview, Kirkman told me that he closely modeled his undead world on George Romero's original incarnation of the modern zombie in Night of the Living Dead (1968). In both the walking corpses relentlessly seek out warm flesh. They eat any living animal within reach, not just humans. And they use tools and weapons, and seem to have some ability to learn.
However, unlike Night's flesh eaters the zombies of The Walking Dead hunt primarily by sense of smell. They can climb fences and overcome complex obstacles. And they work together, using vocalization to call other ghouls to a newfound meal.
As entertainment, The Walking Dead is top notch. In this era of sprinting zombies, sparkling vampires, and wizards with their own theme park rides, it's refreshing to see that serious monster traditions are being properly honored. But from a scientific and survival perspective, does the series measure up? Though not its mission, will lessons from The Walking Dead increase your chances of staying alive when the real undead menace comes clawing at your front door?
Firstly, it's important to note that anyone who tells you s/he knows exactly what zombies will look like and how they will function is doomed to be wrong. We'll never know the full extent of the threat we face until it's too late. But through hard scientific investigation we can hopefully come closer to a full understand of the truth behind the walking dead.
DO THEY HUNT BY SMELL?
Though popular belief suggests that zombies may make a constant, distinctive moaning sound, even if they don't vocalize at all the smell of their rotting flesh would likely be enough to announce their presence at a great distance.
No scent is more distinctive or revolting than death. A dead rodent under the stairs or behind a wall is enough to putrefy an entire small home. Zombies occupy decaying human corpses, so imagine that stink multiplied by 100, or even 1,000!
This notion also brings up an important question related to the zombie hunting style: can they sniff out prey? Even if they are physically able to access a sense of smell, it could be argued that because of their own strong odor zombies can't smell anything, and therefore would not use that sense when tracking humans.
However, is it possible that the undead benefit from some form of postmortem super-smell? Strangely enough, the answer may stem from a common side effect observed in users of psychedelic drugs.
Hyperosmia is a condition in humans that causes an acute increase in the ability to smell. It is often seen in patients with cluster headaches or migraines, but tests have shown that recreational use of LSD can result in the same or similar outcome.
As it is commonly accepted that zombies are driven by their brain, it stands to reason that a brain disorder affording the living a tremendous increase in their sense of smell may also be at work in the undead.
Furthermore, people suffering from Addison's disease, a disorder wherein the adrenal glands produce insufficient steroid hormones, are also inclined to suffer from Hyperosmia. Because zombies are likely not producing needed hormones with their limited body functions, a de facto Addison's scenario could be at work.
ARE THEY JUST BRAIN STEM?
In The Walking Dead we see a scan on the human brain as it makes the transition from living, to dead, to zombie, revealing that the undead only use their brain stem to drive forward in their endless search for food. The rest of the brain is dark and empty, with no activity whatsoever. Is this an accurate depiction?
Timothy Verstynen, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh. Bradley Voytek, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley. Together their interest in theoretical neuroscience, and fascination with zombie behavior, has driven them to create a complete three dimensional model of the zombie brain. From that, Voytek and Verstynen find that the walking dead could not function using only their brain stem.
Though zombies aren't thought to use higher brain functions, like creating complex arguments or reciting Shakespeare, their impressive ability to move through space speaks to a vast network of interactivity throughout multiple regions of the brain. By way of example, the brightest minds on the planet have yet to create a life sized humanoid robot that can move through space as well as even the most awkward zombie.
Despite millions of man-hours and billions of research dollars, robots can't avoid rotting bodies in the road, or navigate cracked curbsides and burned out porch stairs. They can't maintain balance while grabbing, pulling and eating their struggling victims alive. They can't kneel to feast upon the guts of their fallen prey. What they can do is walk in a straight line on a surgically smooth surface, then turn around and walk back again.
What's more, if zombies only use their brain stems a bullet to the head would do little to slow them down. Their entire upper skull and white matter would be little more than a decoy, eating up precious time and ammunition. Buried deep inside the lower brain, the stem would keep the monster charging forward even as the entire top half of its head was removed. Because this flies in the face of nearly all depictions of the undead of the last forty years, including those in The Walking Dead, zombies clearly need much of their brain to function from both a scientific and dramatic standpoint.
Like most areas of zombie scientific investigation, more research is required to get to the heart of this question.
Written by Matt Mogk
Founded in 2007, the Zombie Research Society (ZRS) is dedicated to raising the level of zombie scholarship in the Arts and Sciences. ZRS Members represent diverse backgrounds, interests, and theories, but are unified in their support of the Society's three foundational principles:
1) A zombie is a biologically definable, animated being occupying a human corpse.Become a member of ZRS, and add your insights to the greater zombie discussion. The life you save may be your own.
2) The zombie pandemic is coming. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
3) Enthusiastic debate about zombies is essential to the survival of the human race.
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Click here to report it, or see our DMCA policy.
