MATH, SCIENCE AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Yesterday, I blogged about a coming zombie apocalypse at Michigan State University as a means to teach human behavior in a crisis. Today, we’ll head west to Utah where James Powell teaches math and biology at Utah State University.

According to an article in the Standard-Examiner in Logan, Utah, “If a zombie apocalypse hit Cache County, 70 percent of the population would be devoured or infected within seven to 10 days. The contamination and death toll would climb much faster in Weber County, and faster still in Davis. In the more rural counties of Morgan and Box Elder, the end would come much more slowly, because of the increased distances ‘the walkers’ would have to walk.”

For years, Powell has used real diseases and their spread to help his math and biology students learn to “chart the pace at which real epidemics spread.”

"I think it's nice to be topical," Powell explained as he prepared to teach his workshop, "Mathematics and the Life-Impaired: How the Theory of Disease Predicts the Zombie Apocalypse."

Powell adds that "over the years, I have had my students chart H1N1, and before that there was a rabies outbreak, and years before that we talked about the number of new AIDS cases worldwide. We've charted other diseases and the maximum growth rate, and how much death we should expect."

A science fiction fans since childhood, Powell began using the zombie pandemic after finding that USU student were playing Humans vs. Zombies, a live-action game created in 2005 Maryland's Goucher College. The game starts with a few zombies and many humans. Zombie and humans wear armbands to designate their roles. “Zombies multiply by ‘tagging’ humans, and humans can fend off zombies with Nerf guns, marshmallow guns, rolled up socks, or whatever non-harmful weapon is agreed upon.”

Using data from the game’s website, Powell worked out his criteria, factored in zombie behavior, the “USU Human vs. Zombie mortality rate, and the number of humans in Cache County.” His analysis determined that 70 percent of humans would be dead in seven to 10 days. However, more zombies would starve because the food supply was waning rapidly.

"The humans who were left would be the ones better at defending themselves," he said. "The humans would still be in danger, but the epidemic would have peaked."

Think of it as applied apocalypse theory, a much better application of Doomsday claptrap than the stuff coming from the True Believers (idiots/morons).