Humanity Would End in 100 Days After a Zombie Epidemic, Study Says

Millions of people turn on their TVs every Sunday to watch and see what will happen on the next episode of The Walking Dead. 

But, could humanity survive the zombie apocalypse? Well, researchers at the University of Leicester have studied the “zombie epidemic” and published a new study in the “Journal of Physics Special Topics”.

According to the study, researchers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy discovered that by the 100th day the surviving population would only be around 100 to 200 people.

How did researchers discover this? Well, C.T. Davis and his team of researchers investigated the spread of a hypothetical zombie virus after it has infected one person by using the SIR model – an epidemiological model that calculates the theoretical number of people who will become infected with a contagious disease.

Zombie epidemic
Stock Photo: TURIN,ITALY-OCTOBER 4, 2015: Undead Walk Demonstration make up and visual effects at theme of Zombie in Turin, Italy (Stefano Guidi / Shutterstock.com)

It is important to point out that this study had many assumptions. For example, researchers explained that they assumed the hypothetical zombie virus would turn each person into the undead with a 90% probability. In addition, they did not take into account natural births and deaths. Also, researchers argued that each soul less corpse will be able to find a new person to infect every day. Nor, did the researchers assume the possibility that humans would be able to kill zombies. Consequently, the final number of 100 to 200 people at the end of the day may be very low.

Could a zombie apocalypse really happen?

In the study, Hungry and angry: could we survive a zombie apocalypse? published in the journal “The Lancet Neurology” neurologists examined pop cultural undead and correlated with different parts of the brain. Researchers explained in essence that some of the prime motivations such as hunger and rage could be attributed to a dysfunction within the orbitofrontal cortex. Or, an overactive amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus and a malfunctioning hormonal system.

And while a “zombie virus” has never been discovered. In New York City, researchers recently found synthetic marijuana to be the cause to the “zombie outbreak”. Moreover, 30 people were hospitalized after smoking store bought synthetic cannabinoids.