Skeptic Check: Zombies Aren't Real




Big Picture Science show

Summary: <p><span class="caps">ENCORE</span> Zombies are making a killing in popular culture. But where did the idea behind these mythical, cerebrum-supping nasties come from? Discover why they may be a hard-wired inheritance from our Pleistocene past.</p> <p>Also, how a whimsical mathematical model of a Zombie apocalypse can help us withstand earthquakes and disease outbreaks, and how the rabies virus contributed to zombie mythology.</p> <p>Plus, new ideas for how doctors should respond when humans are in a limbo state between life and death: no pulse, but their brains continue to hum.</p> <p>Meet the songwriter who has zombies on the brain …. and we chase spaced-out animated corpses in the annual Run-For-Your-Lives foot race.</p> <h2>Guests:</h2> <ul> <li> <strong><a href="http://www.guypharrison.com/">Guy P. Harrison</a></strong> – Science writer and author of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616144955/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1616144955&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=arweal-20">50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=arweal-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1616144955" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style=""></i> </li> <li> <strong><a href="http://www.jonathancoulton.com/">Jonathan Coulton</a></strong> – Singer and songwriter</li> <li> <strong><a href="http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/">Robert Smith?</a></strong> – Mathematician and epidemiologist at the University of Ottawa, in Canada</li> <li> <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Teresi">Dick Teresi</a></strong> – Science writer and author of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375423710/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0375423710&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=arweal-20">The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers—How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=arweal-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0375423710" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style=""></i> </li> <li> <strong><a href="http://billwasik.com/">Bill Wasik</a></strong> and <strong>Monica Murphy</strong> – - Respectively Senior Editor at <i>Wired Magazine</i> and veterinarian, and the co-authors of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670023736/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0670023736&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=arweal-20">Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=arweal-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0670023736" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style=""></i> </li> </ul><p><strong><a href="http://www.seti.cl/podcast-del-instituto-seti-los-zombies-no-existen/">Descripción en español</a></strong></p> <p>First released November 12, 2012</p>