Berlin est-elle prête en cas d'attaque de zombies? «Berlin est-elle bien préparée en cas de catastrophe liée à des zombies?» C'est la question délirante que viennent de poser deux membres du Parti pirate allemand au Sénat de Berlin, rapporte le tabloïd Bildzeitung. Prenant pour modèle le Centre for Disease Control and Prevention aux Etats-Unis, qui a édité il y a quelques mois un manuel de survie en cas d'attaque de zombies sous la forme d'une BD humoristique (pour sensibiliser les jeunes à la prévention des catastrophes,) les Pirates ont demandé au Sénat s'il était possible d'éditer un manuel de ce genre à Berlin, et «si non, pourquoi pas?», comme l'explique le quotidien régional Augsburger Allgemeine. Réponse très sérieuse et un brin dédaigneuse du Sénat, qui se trouve dans l'obligation de répondre à toutes les questions posés par les fractions politiques, comme le rapporte le quotidien Die Welt: Les Pirates ne sont pas de cet avis. Photo: Un zombie à Madrid, le 7 février 2009, pour le «Jour des fiertés Zombies». publicité
CDC instructs on preparations for Zombie Apocalypse There are many exotic diseases the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating, and about it which it warns Americans; few followers of the health agency were prepared for its latest post: “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”; the post, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, instructs readers how to prepare for “flesh-eating zombies” – zombies similar to those one sees in movies like “Night of the Living Dead” and video games like Resident Evil; CDC spokesperson said: “It’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek campaign—- We were talking about hurricane preparedness and someone bemoaned that we kept putting out the same messages” There are many exotic diseases the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating, and about it which it warns Americans. Few followers of the health agency were prepared for its latest post: “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.” The emergency preparation post on the CDC Web site reads:
Quebec cancels zombie apocalypse training scenario | World News Network™ There will be no zombie apocalypse in Quebec next week. The provincial government has stepped in to cancel plans for a zombie-themed emergency training exercise. Participants at an annual symposium on civil security had been planning to use a hypothetical zombie attack to test emergency preparedness. Such a theme has been used elsewhere. The logic behind it is to use something that can never actually occur, as opposed to a flood or an ice storm, because that way emergency-preparedness officials might think of new problems and solutions. ‘Canada would never be a safe haven for zombies.’ News of the plan had elicited many guffaws this week, along with some complaints about wasteful government spending. So now the provincial cabinet has stepped in. The new scenario will simulate a flood. “I thought … the theme of the workshop had taken on a greater importance than its goal and that it was better to change it,” Bergeron said in a statement. © The Canadian Press, 2013
Zombie herd tests Ohio’s emergency response capabilities Published 1 November 2011 On Monday, a horde of ravenous flesh-seeking “zombies” descended upon Wesleyan University and tested the response capabilities of Ohio’s emergency personnel; in the spirit of Halloween, Delaware County recruited 225 volunteers to dress up as zombies and participate in a drill designed to help prepare first responders deal with real situations like hazardous material cleanups Delaware County EMA's zombie recruitment poster // Source: delaware.oh.us On Monday, a horde of ravenous flesh-seeking “zombies” descended upon Wesleyan University and tested the response capabilities of Ohio’s emergency personnel. In the spirit of Halloween, Delaware County recruited 225 volunteers to dress up as zombies and participate in a simulated hazardous material cleanup.Using standard decontamination procedures, first responders had to “treat” the zombies and make them “human” once again. “I think it’s very creative,” Blair said.
Neural parasitology: how parasites manipulate host behaviour The ability of parasites to alter the behaviour of their hosts fascinates both scientists and non-scientists alike. One reason that this topic resonates with so many is that it touches on core philosophical issues such as the existence of free will. If the mind is merely a machine, then it can be controlled by any entity that understands the code and has access to the machinery. This special issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology highlights some of the best-understood examples of parasite-induced changes in host brain and behaviour, encompassing both invertebrate and vertebrate hosts and micro- and macro-parasites. The observation that parasitic infection can modify specific host behaviours is an old one (see Moore, 2002). The general consensus has been that these parasites have evolved the ability to manipulate host behaviour in order to advance their own reproductive success (Moore, 2002). Joanne P. Shelley A.
Homeland Security Watch » What zombies can teach homeland security. A zombie is a “re-animated human corpse that feeds on living human flesh.” Mostly they serve as fodder for popular entertainment. But an attack by real zombies would be anything but entertaining. Four Canadian mathematicians who wrote “When Zombies Attack! “… if zombies arise, we must act quickly and decisively to eradicate them before they eradicate us.” The scholars — Philip Munz, Ioan Hudea, Joe Imad, and Robert J. While obviously not realistic, their analysis “demonstrates… how modeling can respond to a wide variety of challenges in biology.” The link between their work and biological attacks, pandemics, and related public health threats to the United States is an obvious one. Why zombies matter to homeland security The authors describe their basic model for zombie infection, discuss equilibria and stability issues, and then suggest conditions under which eradication of the zombie infection can occur. As the reader familiar with the concept may recall, zombies have no will of their own.
HOW PERNICIOUS PARASITES TURN VICTIMS INTO ZOMBIES Parasites come in all shapes and forms. From skinny tapeworms that infest intestines to the microscopic infectious agent of malaria (Plasmodium), parasites are usually inconvenient and sometimes lethal. But there is one group of parasites that is particularly pernicious – they are the parasites that hijack their host’s nervous system, turning their victims into zombies. Given the challenges faced by this small but dedicated community, Michael Dickinson and JEB colleague Janis Weeks invited Adamo and Toxoplasma gondii expert Joanne Webster from Imperial College, UK, to co-edit a special edition of The Journal of Experimental Biology dedicated to the burgeoning field of neuroparasitology, to learn more about how parasites turn their victims into zombies. Launching the collection with her review, ‘Parasites: evolution’s neurobiologists’, Adamo outlines the three strategies that parasites use to alter host behaviour. Alteration of host behaviour Behavioural manipulation by Toxoplasma
No prank: On Halloween, US military forces train for zombie apocalypse Why is the US military preparing for a zombie apocalypse? Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition That’s the latest training exercise that US Marines and Navy special-operations forces will be taking part in on an island off the coast of San Diego – starting on Wednesday, aka Halloween. “This is a very real exercise. This scenario is dire, modeled in part on a public-service campaign that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched last year, warning that US citizens should be prepared in the event of a zombie invasion. It will play out Wednesday and Thursday at Halo’s annual Counter-Terrorism Summit security conference, which will be attended by, among other people, former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden. “No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it’s going to be a federal incident, so we’re making it happen,” Mr.
Zombies and Other Walking Dead - Ruth Owen 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen 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 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?" This stuff has happened in Haiti; that's where the word "zombie" comes from. What is definitely true is the story of Clairvius Narcisse. 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! Yet.
Zombies on the web Compiled by David Chalmers Zombies are hypothetical creatures of the sort that philosophers have been known to cherish. A zombie is physically identical to a normal human being, but completely lacks conscious experience. Varieties of zombies There are actually three different kinds of zombies. Hollywood zombies. (There are also zombie cocktails, Unix processes, and pop groups, but three is enough for now. These three classes are distinct. Philosophical zombies It is philosophical zombies that I'm most interested in here, since I'm a philosopher and they raise very interesting issues. Most people doubt that zombies could exist in the actual world. For example: It can be used as a way of illustrating the "hard problem" of consciousness: why do physical processes give rise to conscious experience? Related ideas There are two related ideas that turn up elsewhere in the philosophical and psychological literature. History So here are a few links for the zombieholic. Papers on zombies Go to: