Sunday, August 16, 2009

Great Moments in Research: a Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack

Some enterprising nerds at Canada's Carleton University and the University of Ottawa have taken research on infectious diseases and applied it to zombies. The result is a crazy mashup of pop culture and nerd neurons. Here are some details, including the equation in which S = susceptible people and Z = zombies (natch).

Bonus: An actual academic paper was the result. Entitled "When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection," you can see the PDF version. I give you the abstract:
Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently, we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular, impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.
This is just hilarious. Now go watch "Shaun of the Dead" IMMEDIATELY.

2 comments:

lumpy said...

I love this. I want to present at the first academic conference on zombies. Which uni do you think will host it?

Mad Minerva said...

There are so many options since plenty of schools are zombies too -- dead inside but still walking around and eating people! ;-)