Weekend Herald

Prepare for the zombie apocalypse

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While post- election US has already been compared to an episode from The Walking Dead, researcher­s have actually worked out what a zombie apocalypse would look like. Using a computatio­nal model developed to study the spread of less fictional diseases such as MRSA and Ebola, scientists from the Argonne National Laboratory found that it would take only 60 days for two million Chicagoans to be zombified. The light- hearted project tested agent- based modelling simulation­s on a Halloweent­hemed slice of epidemiolo­gy, following the spread of a zombie virus and testing out “interventi­ons” that could save humanity. Though the worst- case scenario found little resistance against the walking dead, strategies such as training population­s to kill zombies or communicat­ions from city manipulati­on tool and revealed that subjects could identify snakes in much more blurry images than they could identify other harmless animals in equivalent images. The findings confirm the Snake Detection Theory; namely, that the visual system of humans and primates has specifical­ly evolved in a way that facilitate­s picking out of dangerous animals. officials that tell people how to avoid them provided some more optimistic outcomes. The results could even help officials and policymake­rs address ongoing crises and prepare for potential ones. Miniature robots that can move and function like insects are now more than just the dreams of science fiction. US researcher­s revealed to a conference in Tennessee this week how they’d not only built microelect­romechanic­al systems ( MEMS) devices the size of insects, but had also created them to move just like real insects.

 ?? Picture / Gene Page/ AMC ??
Picture / Gene Page/ AMC
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