The Attack of the Zombie Ants and other stories.

Is there anything that does not sound cooler when the word zombie is added?

Take the following factoid - Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a parasitic fungus found in some forests that infects ants in order to spread itself to other plants and trees. 

Not that thrilling eh?  Now, describe the actions of old Ophio as controlling an army of zombie ants and suddenly we're talking something much more exciting.  The zombie factor of this admirably macabre story is upped in the terminal phase of this infection when the Carpenter ants do appear to lose control and latch themselves with a death grip to tree leaves in order to pass on the fungus.

This got me thinking about other things enlivened by a dash of the Undead.  Rated in Brains out of 5

Big Brother meets zombies in Charlie Brooker's gleefully gory Dead Set

Flashmobbing is soooo 2007.  Unless 4233 of you dress up as zombies and invade Seattle.

The philosophical concept of the Zombie (or p-zed).

"A hypothetical being that is indistinguishable from a normal human being except that it lacks conscious experience. When poked with a sharp object it does not feel any pain. While it behaves exactly as if it does feel pain (it may recoil from the stimulus, or tell us that it is in intense pain), it does not actually have the experience of pain as a putative 'normal' person does.  The notion of a philosophical zombie is mainly a thought experiment used in arguments (often called zombie arguments) in the philosophy of mind, particularly arguments against forms of physicalism, such as materialism and behaviorism."

Classic Literature with added undead such as the magnificent Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Check out the book trailer for the sequel to Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith's masterpiece

Zombie Outbreak!!

Human-Robot marriages will be legal by 2050.
D.Levy. University of Maastricht 2007

Chickens prefer beautiful human beings.
Ghirlanda, Jansson & Enquist. Stockholm University 2002

Pressures involved when Penguins poo: Calculations on Avian Defecation
Meyer-Rochow, Gal & Eotvos. University of Hungary 2005


Some people like to grumble and moan about scientists doing random and pointless studies and researches. I personally find them hugely entertaining, particularly when related to completely useless areas of knowledge (such as the pressure rates of penguin faeces).

Scientists in Canada have recently completed a study called Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress. On first glance that doesn't seem especially entertaining. However, the title of chapter 4 has promise. WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN OUTBREAK OF ZOMBIE INFECTION.

Apparently, the only way to successfully defeat a outbreak is to remove the heads of the zombies. Intriguingly, they could have watched Shaun of the Dead and got the same result without all that pesky mathematics. Their conclusions are wonderfully backed up by Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London. "My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a zombie then it's dead forever." Read the story here.
Films
Old School ***
Matrix Reloaded ***
Matrix Revolutions **
Mesrine Pt 1 ****
Terminator Salvation ***
Angels & Demons ***
X Men Origins:Wolverine ***

This is a mind friendly post....

I finished and handed in the last of my PGCE course essays yesterday*. This made me very happy. To celebrate, myself and some fellow course members went for a drink, something to eat and of course, a zombie movie. As you do....

I am a great fan of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later so I approached the sequel 28 Weeks Later with a certain amount of trepidation (particularly considering the last film I saw at the cinema was the abysmal Spiderman 3). When I heard that Boyle was not directing, my heart sank until I discovered that the director was the man behind wonderful Spanish oddity Intacto, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. 28 Weeks Later is a very good film; tight, controlled and action packed. It has one of the best opening 10 minutes of any film I've seen for ages. It doesn't pull its punches and has some very unpleasant surprises. The frantic, kinetic camerawork takes some getting used to, but communicates very well the confusion and panic that occurs when the Infected attack.

I heartily recommend 28 Weeks Later, providing you have quite a strong stomach as Fresnadillo has lots of excellent fake blood at his disposal and is more than happy to use it every chance he gets. Especially in one sequence involving a field full of Infected and a helicopter. I was queasily impressed...

Something else that made me happy is this wonderful flash game. Click here.
Created by the people behind the odd wonderful-ness that is Samorost, it is a lovely little Flash puzzle game made to promote a Polyphonic Spree album and as you help the 3 lost members of the Spree, some of their curiously beautiful music is playing. Do mosey on over and have a look.

*My essay was on something called Mind Friendly Learning. I can assure you, the most interesting thing about it is it's name...

Movies
Spiderman 3 *
Kill Bill Vol 1 **
28 Weeks Later ****