scarry science - why would anyone HUMAN create this ...
i came across this site while tracing a link that came up when i was looking at codes sent through the chat this morning..it's interesting so i thought i'd share it
it's like a scientific explanation of the brain mites in the series 'Dark Skies' that i just finished watching
5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen ...
Jan 11, 2008 ... You may be protesting that technically these people
have never been dead and .... how the process of "reanimating" a
person creates a problem. ... need is the stem and you'll still be
able to mindlessly walk and eat and enjoy Grey's Anatomy. ..... I'm
Left, You're Wrong February 13, 2008 18:16:21 ...
5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen
We found out recently that if you try to leave a little kid in a
graveyard late at night, he'll freak out. Even if you offer to leave
him a gun to protect himself. Why? It's because on some instinctual
level, all humans know it's just a matter of time until the zombies
show up.
Our culture is full of tales of the undead walking the Earth, from our
religions to our comic books. But, some sort of zombie apocalypse
isn't actually possible, right?
Right?
Guys?
Actually, yes. It's quite possible. Here's five ways it could happen,
according to science.
#5. Brain Parasites
As seen in ...
Resident Evil IV
What are they?
Parasites that turn victims into mindless, zombie-like slaves are
fairly common in nature. There's one called toxoplasmosa gondii that
seems to devote its entire existence to being terrifying.
This bug infects rats, but can only breed inside the intestines of a
cat. The parasite knows it needs to get the rat inside the cat (yes,
we realize this sounds like the beginning of the most fucked-up Dr.
Seuss poem ever) so the parasite takes over the rat's freaking brain,
and intentionally makes it scurry toward where the cats hang out. The
rat is being programmed to get itself eaten, and it doesn't even know.
Of course, those are just rats, right?
How it can result in zombies:
Hey, did we mention that half the human population on Earth is
infected with toxoplasmosa, and don't know it? Hey, maybe you're one
of them. Flip a coin.
Oh, also, they've done studies and shown that the infected see a
change in their personality and have a higher chance of going batshit
insane.
Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
Humans and rats aren't all that different; thats why they use them to
test our drugs. All it takes is a more evolved version of
toxoplasmosa, one that could to do us what it does to the rats. So,
imagine if half the world suddenly had no instinct for
self-preservation or rational thought. Even less than they do now, we
mean.
If you're comforting yourself with the thought that it may take
forever for such a parasite to evolve, you're forgetting about all the
biological weapons programs around the world, intentionally
weaponizing such bugs. You've got to wonder if the lab workers don't
carry out their work under the unwitting command of the toxoplasmosa
gondii already in their brains. If you don't want to sleep at night,
that is.
You may be protesting that technically these people have never been
dead and thus don't fit the dictionary definition of "zombies," but we
can assure you that the distinction won't matter a whole lot once
these groaning hordes are clawing their way through your windows.
#4. Neurotoxins
As seen in ...
The movie The Serpent and the Rainbow, the upcoming Resident Evil 5 video game.
What are they?
There are certain kinds of poisons that slow your bodily functions to
the point that you'll be considered dead, even to a doctor (okay,
maybe not to a good doctor). The poison from fugu (Japanese blowfish)
can do this.
The victims can then be brought back under the effects of a drug like
datura stramonium (or other chemicals called alkaloids) that leave
them in a trance-like state with no memory, but still able to perform
simple tasks like eating, sleeping, moaning and shambling around with
their arms outstretched.
How it can result in zombies:
"Can?" How about "does."
This stuff has happened in Haiti; that's where the word "zombie" comes
from. There are books about it, the most famous ones by Dr. Wade Davis
(Passage of Darkness and The Serpent and the Rainbow). Yes, the movie
The Serpent and the Rainbow was based on this guy's actual science
stuff. How much of it was fact? Well, there was that one scene where
they strapped the guy naked to a chair and drove a huge spike through
his balls. We're hoping that part wasn't true.
What is definitely true is the story of Clairvius Narcisse. He was a
Haitian guy who was declared dead by two doctors and buried in 1962.
They found him wandering around the village 18 years later. It turned
out the local voodoo priests had been using naturally occurring
chemicals to basically zombify people and putting them to work on the
sugar plantations (no, really).
So, the next time you're pouring a little packet of sugar into your
coffee, remember that it may have been handled by a zombie at some
point.
Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
On the one hand, it's already fucking happened! So that earns it some
street cred right off the bat. But, even if some evil genius
intentionally distributed alkaloid toxins to a population to turn them
into a shambling, mindless horde, there is no way to make these
zombies aggressive or cannabalistic.
Yet.
#3. The Real Rage Virus
As seen in ...
28 Days Later
What is it?
In the movie, it was a virus that turned human beings into mindless
killing machines. In real life, we have a series of brain disorders
that do the same thing. They were never contagious, of course. Then,
Mad Cow Disease came along. It attacks the cow's spinal cord and
brain, turning it into a stumbling, mindless attack cow.
And, when humans eat the meat ...
How it can result in zombies:
When Mad Cow gets in humans, they call it Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Check out the symptoms:
Changes in gait (walking)
Hallucinations
Lack of coordination (for example, stumbling and falling)
Muscle twitching
Myoclonic jerks or seizures
Rapidly developing delirium or dementia
Sure, the disease is rare (though maybe not as rare as we think) and
the afflicted aren't known to chase after people in murderous mobs.
Yet.
But, it proves widespread brain infections of the Rage variety are
just a matter of waiting for the right disease to come along.
Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
If the whole sudden, mindless violence idea seems far-fetched,
remember that you are just one brain chemical (serotonin) away from
turning into a mindless killing machine (they've tested it by putting
rats in Deathmatch-style cages and watching them turn on each other).
All it would take is a disease that destroys the brain's ability to
absorb that one chemical and suddenly it's a real-world 28 Days Later.
So, imagine such an evolved disease, which we'll call Super Mad Cow
(or, Madder Cow) getting a foothold through the food supply. Say this
disease spreads through blood-on-blood contact, or saliva-on-blood
contact. Now you have a Rage-type virus that can be transmitted with a
bite.
Just like the movie. With one bite, you're suddenly the worst kind of
zombie: A fast zombie.
#2. Neurogenesis
As seen in ...
Laboratories around the world.
What is it?
You know all that conversy out there about stem cell research? Well,
the whole thing with stem cells is that they can basically be used to
re-generate dead cells. Particularly of interest to zombologists like
ourselves is neurogenesis, the method by which they can re-grow dead
brain tissue.
You can see where this is going.
How it can result in zombies:
You wanted the undead to make an appearance in this article? Well,
here you go, you creepy bastards.
Science can pretty much save you from anything but brain death; they
can swap out organs but when the brain turns to mush, you're gone.
Right?
Well, not for long. They're already able to re-grow the brains of
comatose head trauma patients until they wake up and walk around
again.
Couple that with the new ability to keep a dead body in a state of
suspended animation so that it can be brought back to life later, and
soon we'll be able to bring back the dead, as long as we get to them
quickly enough.
That sounds great, right? Well, this lab dedicated to "reanimation
research" (yes, that's what they call it) explains how the process of
"reanimating" a person creates a problem. It causes the brain to die
off from the outside in. The outside being the cortex, the nice part
of you that makes humans human. That just leaves the part that
controls basic motor function and primitive instincts behind.
Reanimation research (artist's rendering)
You don't need the cortex to survive; all you need is the stem and
you'll still be able to mindlessly walk and eat and enjoy Grey's
Anatomy. This is how chickens can keep walking around after they've
been beheaded (including one case where the chicken lived for 18
months without a head).
So, you take a brain dead patient, use these techniques to re-grow the
brain stem, and you now have a mindless body shambling around, no
thoughts and no personality, nothing but a cloud of base instincts and
impulses.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we like to call a real, live,
undead fucking zombie. So there.
Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
Think about it. Under every legal system in the world, all rights and
responsibilities are terminated at death. All it takes is someone with
resources and a need for a mindless workforce of totally obedient
slave labor.
How long until somebody tries this? We're betting somebody in the
world, maybe North Korea, will have a working zombie by Christmas.
#1. Nanobots
As seen in...
Michael Crichton's novel Prey, The PS2 game Nano Breaker
What are they?
Nanobots are a technology that science apparently engineered to make
you terrified of the future. We're talking about microscopic,
self-replicating robots that can invisbily build--or
destroy--anything. Vast sums of money are being poured into
nanotechnology. Sure, at some level scientists know nanobots will
destroy mankind. They just can't resist seeing how it happens.
How it can result in zombies:
Scientists have already created a nano-cyborg, by fusing a tiny
silicone chip to a virus. The first thing they found out is these
cyborgs can still operate for up to a month after the death of the
host. Notice how nano scientists went right for zombification, even at
this early stage. They know where the horror is.
According to studies, within a decade they'll have nanobots that can
crawl inside your brain and set up neural connections to replace
damaged ones. That's right; the nanobots will be able to rewire your
thoughts. What could possibly go wrong?
Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
Do the math, people.
Some day there will be nanobots in your brain. Those nanobots will be
programmed to keep functioning after you die. They can form their own
neural pathways, meaning they can use your brain to keep operating
your limbs after you've deceased and, presumably, right up until you
rot to pieces in mid-stride.
The nanobots will be programmed to self-replicate, and the death of
the host will mean the end of the nanobots. To preserve themselves,
they'd need to transfer to a new host. Therefore, the last act of the
nanobot zombie would be to bite a hole in a healthy victim, letting
the nanobots steam in and set up camp in the new host. Once in, they
can shut down the part of the brain that resists (the cortex) and
leave the brain stem intact. They will have added a new member to the
unholy army of the undead.
Now, it should be more than clear by this point that our goal is to be
responsible researchers. We don't want to create a panic here. All
we're saying is that on an actual day on the actual calendar in the
future, runaway microscopic nanobots will end civilization by flooding
the planet with the cannabalistic undead.
Science has proven it
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5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen ...
Jan 11, 2008 ... You may be protesting that technically these people
have never been dead and .... how the process of "reanimating" a
person creates a problem. ... need is the stem and you'll still be
able to mindlessly walk and eat and enjoy Grey's Anatomy. ..... I'm
Left, You're Wrong February 13, 2008 18:16:21 ...
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