Paging George Romero

If we knew what scientists (and governments) were working on, their plans for unforeseen things, contingency plans, et all, it would possibly make our heads explode

Hmmm, there's a study searching for a grant ...

Thanks to the BBC, one of those is brought to light today;

Science ponders 'zombie attack'

If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively.

That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in Canada.

They say only frequent counter-attacks with increasing force would eradicate the fictional creatures.

The scientific paper is published in a book - Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress.

In books, films, video games and folklore, zombies are undead creatures, able to turn the living into other zombies with a bite.

But there is a serious side to the work.

[snip]

In their study, the researchers from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University (also in Ottawa) posed a question: If there was to be a battle between zombies and the living, who would win?

Professor Robert Smith? (the question mark is part of his surname and not a typographical mistake) and colleagues wrote: "We model a zombie attack using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies.

[snip]

Professor Ferguson went on to joke: "The paper considers something that many of us have worried about - particularly in our younger days - of what would be a feasible way of tackling an outbreak of a rapidly spreading zombie infection.

"My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a zombie then it's dead forever. So perhaps they are being a little over-pessimistic when they conclude that zombies might take over a city in three or four days."

Sounds like a bunch of, perhaps over-caffeinated, Canadian eggheads were looking for an excuse, or, perhaps justifying budge expenses, to purchase of a bevy of George Romero DVD's.

And, a completely (we assume), unrelated item;

Top Sweden newspaper says IDF kills Palestinians for their organs


Cue the gloomy organ music ...