Zombie apocalypse: how states will react. Could scientists really create a zombie apocalypse virus? How to create a zombie apocalypse

Because life is ahead of the dream!

Maria Pimenova

The difference between a person and a rat is not so great; it is not for nothing that new drugs are tested on rats. Now imagine that a little less than half of humanity (that’s how many are infected with toxpoplasmosis today) will lose their sense of self-preservation and lose their minds? (We mean even more so than now.) This could happen if Toxoplasma decides to evolve.

You can say that she had enough time for this and it is unlikely that it would occur to her, especially since she doesn’t even have a head! But don't forget about the biological weapons programs. Perhaps scientists are developing the latest species of Toxoplasma gondii bacteria right now, and they are not at all worried about the horrifying results of their own work (because they are most likely already infected with Toxoplasma).

It should be noted here that, technically speaking, people infected with Toxoplasma cannot be considered zombies in the narrow sense, because they were never dead. But it’s unlikely to console you if they start knocking on your windows.

Neurotoxins

Some poisons can slow down your vital functions so much that doctors pronounce you dead. Such neurotoxins include, for example, the poison of puffer fish (in small quantities it causes paralysis and lethargic coma). Very often, after emerging from a coma, a person loses his memory and is able to perform only the simplest tasks: eating, sleeping and wandering with his arms outstretched forward.

How could this lead to a zombie apocalypse?

Actually, this has already happened in Haiti, the birthplace of the word “zombie.” If you don't believe me, ask a man named Clavius ​​Narcissus. In 1980, he suddenly appeared in his home village and declared that all the time he was considered dead since 1962, he was a zombie. Clavius ​​was recognized by his sister, despite the fact that she had attended his funeral 18 years earlier. The man claimed that he was forced to drink some kind of drink, after which doctors declared him dead (a medical certificate was even found). But Clavius ​​did not die, but served as a zombie to a certain bokor sorcerer.

However, sorcerers in Haiti used zombies (they stopped people using the poison of the toad bufo marinus and a plant with the telling name “zombie cucumber”) to work on sugar plantations.

Next time you put sugar in your tea, remember that it could have been collected by the industrious hands of a zombie.

Fortunately, even if some very malicious sorcerer finds a way to poison most of the planet's population and turn them into weak-willed zombies, he still will not be able to turn them into bloodthirsty cannibals.

Virus

In the textbook film for all zombie fans, “28 Days Later,” the cause of the pandemic was a virus that turned people into mindless killers in a matter of seconds (in 15, if you’re being boring). In reality, some mental disorders can lead to the same result. They are, of course, non-contagious. This was the case before mad cow disease appeared. The disease attacks the animal's brain, causing symptoms similar to rabies. The first cases of the disease were identified in 1968 in England, and then in other European countries.

How could this turn into a zombie apocalypse?

A person infected with mad cow disease changes behavior, lacks coordination of movements, and sometimes experiences convulsions, hallucinations, and delirium. To date, there are not enough known cases of human disease with mad cow disease to seriously talk about an epidemic, but nevertheless, this proves that the possibility of a contagious disease affecting the human brain theoretically exists. This virus will be transmitted through bites. You can call it "super mad cow disease."

Neurogenesis

What do you know about stem cells? Basically, all you need to know about them is that they are used to regenerate dead cells. Thus, the interest of zombieologists (if such suddenly exist) may be aimed at restoring the brain in a dead body using stem cells.

How could this lead to a zombie apocalypse?

Brain death is perhaps the most unpleasant event that can happen to a person. Scientists have learned to grow organs, but if the brain has been without oxygen for a short time, the nerve connections cannot be restored, and this means the end of the human personality as it existed before. But with the achievements of modern science, scientists can reanimate the brain and, as a result, obtain a living being devoid of higher nervous activity. Just what we can call a real zombie - a living dead.

The popularity of zombies has long gone beyond the horror genre. The “living dead” have become children's favorites, fighting with plants in children's games. They are one of the typical enemies in fantasy shooters and TV series. They become an element of youth design in clothing. Are the chilling horrors really a thing of the past, and today no one cares whether a zombie apocalypse is possible? Let’s try to figure out how relevant this topic is and what is the likelihood of the “living dead” appearing on the streets of modern cities.

Do zombies exist in real life?

Creatures with rotten flesh, growling and pulling their hands and teeth towards the brains, are overgrown with many stories, legends and superstitions. They appear in mystical thrillers and melodramas, youth comedies much more often than their “colleagues” vampires, adding a bit of humor or symbolizing the oppressed sections of society. In the world of cinema, the living dead are constant extras, which are divided into two main categories:

1. Classic zombies are corpses risen from the grave, often not distinguished by intelligence and intelligence.
2. The living dead are the result of a certain pandemic that has turned most of humanity into aggressive carnivorous creatures.

What about reality? It is reliably known that zombies in the original sense are not an invention of Hollywood directors. The word comes from one of the African languages ​​and means “Soul of the Dead.” To the question “Who are zombies and do they exist?” the voodoo priest will answer in the affirmative, adding that he himself would not mind acquiring a couple of copies for working in the garden.

1. The ritual of turning a person into an obedient slave indeed exists in this religion, but does not imply his real death. In Haiti, such practices are illegal.
2. For the potential zombie ritual, the sorcerer needed puffer fish containing a strong nerve poison - tetrodotoxin. A person who tasted the voodoo priest's potion fell into a coma.
3. Relatives mourned and buried, and then the “dead man” came to life - the poison was removed from the body. However, the “zombie” was too confused and scared to return home. The sorcerer constantly drugged him and forced him to work.

The fictional “living dead” are distinguished by incredible vitality and strength. They are able to find victims by sound or smell. Neuroscientists have even published a book on the topic of the zombie brain to humorously understand the functioning of these strange creatures. In Andrei Cruz’s book “The Age of the Dead,” the infected have a terrifying effect, demoralizing not only ordinary survivalists, but also professional military personnel. Let's consider whether a zombie apocalypse is possible in real life.

• Even an army of obedient slaves of a voodoo priest, not paying attention to pain and bullets, is not capable of causing a global catastrophe of civilization. A horde of this kind can easily be stopped by ordinary police or a special forces squad. The sleeping gas is enough to make them no longer dangerous.
• In the event of an epidemic, the virus will be quickly localized and investigated. So far, there is not a single strain that turns a person into a superzombie. Sick people are weakened due to pathological disorders in the body and are not often able to bite even a doctor. The plague epidemic caused significant damage to Medieval civilization, but the problem lay in population decline.
• The functioning of a living person requires the coordinated work of many systems. After death, an irreversible process of decomposition occurs. The risen zombies will not be able to growl, or even walk. Although their behavior can be explained by disorders of certain parts of the brain, stories of voodoo or an epidemic still remain more plausible.

Should we prepare for a zombie apocalypse?

Behind the crowds of aggressive “living dead” lies the fear of war, devastation, and the collapse of civilization. All this has already happened before, is happening now and will happen in the future without any participation of living or infected creatures. In the natural world, zombies also have a place.

“We wanted the new songs to blow everyone’s minds,” shares plans for the January album Gods Of Violence Mille Petrozza - so that it’s just “wow!”, and that’s all. This became the main, conscious goal of the release." We already checked out the boob-brutal-ritual clip some time ago - and I don’t know about the video, but the theme is really incredibly cool. As well as the cover art for the album, which was created by one of KREATOR’s favorite artists, maestro Jan Meininghaus. Although... let's clarify. The cover has two versions. One is international from Ian, and the second is a special North American author.

However, today we are not talking about differences and not about who is cooler. Having become interested in the works of Meininghaus, I came across an interesting manual: how the artist worked out the artwork for the KREATOR DVD Dying Alive.

“I've always loved thrash metal,” Ian wrote in the introduction, “bands like SLAYER, METALLICA and KREATOR. Therefore, of course, I am proud of my role: today I create most of the design for the releases of my phenomenal fellow countrymen. After I worked on the cover Phantom Antichrist in 2012, Mille Petrozza also asked to come up with something for DVD/BluRay Dying Alive 2013. We met in January and discussed who had what ideas. And, both fans of the zombie genre, they quickly agreed on the theme of the undead and the post-apocalypse. With this I set to work, and within a few days I sent the first draft to Millet.

Overall, he liked it, but he received a request: to make the zombies look like musicians, more frightening and certainly with guitars. Plus, an additional “support group” appeared in the background.

Then the wreckage of the cars was removed - because Millet wanted to get rid of associations with modernity, to focus on something timeless (the ’99 Honda Accord definitely wouldn’t work here). Well, the giant background demon has found its original body paint.

Rough detailing of the demon and his servants, lines and sky. All work was done in Photoshop on a WACOM Intuos4.

Some more light/shadows and clouds in the sky. I love fantasy heroes because they don’t need to correspond to some reality (as, say, if we are talking about a portrait of a person). Plus blood and broken bones... it's always nice to draw something like that...

KREATOR's artwork has always been famous for its darkness and brutality. Let’s not change traditions, but also emphasize the live essence of the release.

Detailing the appearance of the main characters: I spent night after night working out the nuances of the rotten skin and grin of the skull. As far as I know, Nuclear Blast released posters of these images, so my efforts were worth it.

I initially do most of my work in b/w. But you can’t do without blood in horror! So the demon and the surroundings gradually began to turn bloody. Well, in the middle of the wounds and bulging veins, I added a bit of white highlights in order to create a “sputum” effect.

And some more blood! The twisted hands of the characters add dynamics to the composition - and this can also be considered a small hint at the behavior of the audience at the KREATOR show...

Now let's add colors. As a rule, I avoid coloring the characters themselves, focusing only on the play of light “outside”. Well, the atmospheric composition, in my opinion, is achieved by combining a maximum of two tones (one warm, the other cold). The black areas of the image were slightly brightened to avoid comic book associations.

Well, let's finalize! The finishing touches to the zombie company, heaven and earth. A demon, shrouded in clouds and smoke, rises above the devastated land. Emphasizing its inhuman size, I added a flock of birds in the belly area.

The sky took on a dramatic orange hue, shimmering with hints of red and yellow like the flames of the underworld. And in order not to overdo it with brightness, I partially discolored some places. Now let's add a title, logo and... done!

A real zombie, like a real UFO, is not so easy to come across. We have long dreamed of such an acquaintance - and we couldn’t think of a better occasion than the eve of Halloween. Realist found a zombie specialist - and learned from him the whole truth about the living dead and the places where they can be found.

Alexander Goliusov— Candidate of Medical Sciences, writer. As part of the program to combat malaria in Africa, he worked in Nigeria and Ghana. Engaged in research into the zombie phenomenon.

Where do zombies come from?

Legends are made up about zombies and mysterious stories are made up. In cinema alone, there are three main versions of the origin of zombies. The first is that zombies appeared as a result of a radiation anomaly. The second is that the zombie state is influenced by microorganisms. But the third version corresponds to reality. And according to it, classic zombies are people whom the sorcerers-shamans of the voodoo cult plunge into an unconscious state, and then into a state of drug intoxication.

Are there real zombies?

It is impossible to answer this question negatively. Even our interaction with you, an interview, is an attempt to influence me, and leading me to the desired or “correct” answer is an attempt to zombify me. People generally “zombify” each other every minute through manipulation. But to find out if classic zombies still exist, you need to go to Haiti.

Is it possible to revive a dead person using a virus?

Such cases are unknown to science and, by and large, it is impossible. Firstly, after biological death, irreversible cell death occurs in organs and tissues, starting with the nervous one. Secondly, the virus reproduces only in a living cell. And thirdly, the microorganism must be so universal that it can simultaneously perform the functions of all systems of the dead macroorganism: it will have to replace blood cells in order to carry oxygen, conduct impulses instead of dead cells, and so on. The virus cannot do this. It has a fairly simple structure - as a rule, it is DNA and RNA molecules protected by a shell.

Prion detection

In the West African and Haitian teachings of Voodoo, zombies are human beings without a soul, their bodies are nothing more than shells controlled by powerful sorcerers. In the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, an army of bumbling, feeble-minded corpse eaters brought to life by radiation attacks a group of Pennsylvania natives. We're looking for something between Haiti and Hollywood: an infectious agent that will leave its victims half-dead, yet still living shells of who they used to be.

This effective agent will target and block specific areas of the brain, scientists say. And although the living dead have intact motor skills - the ability to walk, of course, but also the ability to tear, necessary to devour human flesh, their frontal lobe, responsible for moral behavior, planning and inhibiting impulsive actions (such as the urge to bite someone something) will cease to exist. The cerebellum, which controls motor coordination, will likely be functional, but not fully functional. This explains the fact that zombies in movies are easy to outrun or hit with a baseball bat.

Most likely, the culprit of such a partially destroyed brain is protein. More precisely, a protein-like infectious particle called a prion. It's not exactly a virus or a living particle, but it is virtually impossible to destroy and there is no known way to treat the disease these prions cause.

First prion epidemic was discovered around 1950 in Papua New Guinea, when representatives of one of the local tribes were struck by a strange trembling. At times the sick people of this tribe burst into uncontrollable laughter. The tribe called this disease “kuru,” and by the early 1960s, scientists had discovered that the source of the disease originated from the tribe’s cannibalistic funeral customs, including eating brains.

Prions became widely known in the 1990s as the infectious agents responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. When a deformed prion enters our body, like a mad cow, holes form in our brain, like holes in a sponge. Scintigraphy of the brains of people infected with the prion looked as if they had been shot in the head with a pellet gun.

Scary assumptions

If we think that evil geniuses are planning to destroy our world, then all they have to do is attach a prion to a virus, since prion diseases spread very easily through the population. For things to actually get even more catastrophic, we would need a virus that spreads very quickly and that carries prions to the frontal lobe of the brain and the cerebellum. Targeting the infection specifically to these parts of the body will be difficult, but it is very important in order to create the shambling, stupid creatures that we need.

Scientists propose using a virus that causes encephalitis, inflammation of the cerebral cortex.

A herpes virus will also work, but it is unlikely that it will be possible to attach a prion to a virus. After infection, we will have to stop the spread of the prion in the body so that our zombies do not become completely immobile and their brains completely useless. Scientists suggest adding sodium bicarbonate to stimulate metabolic alkalosis, which raises the body's pH levels and makes it harder for prions to multiply. In this case, the person will have seizures, convulsive muscle contractions and will look as terrible as a zombie.