[Bit#59] Are Zombies Scientifically Possible? The Real Reality of Zombies Proven by Science

1. Corpses Awakened from Death? The Real Zombies of Nature

Movie zombies are fake. The phenomenon of dead corpses walking around is biologically impossible. However, if we turn our eyes to the natural world, the story changes completely. Real zombies do exist. In fact, quite a lot of them are hidden all around us.

The most representative example is the zombie fungus known as Ophiocordyceps. This fungus infiltrates the body of an ant. This is not a simple infection. This microorganism completely hijacks the nervous system of the ant. From this moment on, the brain of the ant is reduced to a henchman that receives orders from the fungus.

Ants infected with the fungus lose all of their own free will. They become mere puppets that move only as the fungus desires. The fungus forces the ant to climb up to a high tree branch. This is a bizarre behavior that goes against the natural instincts of the ant. Why is that? It is because that high place is the best vantage point for spreading the fungal spores far and wide.

When it reaches its destination, the fungus issues its final, cruel command. It makes the ant bite the underside of a leaf tightly with its jaws and die. Once the ant dies, a completely horrifying event takes place. A long fungal mushroom grows out, piercing through the head of the ant. It has bloomed by using the physical body as nutrients. The spores bursting from this mushroom re-infect other healthy ants below. It is a perfect and terrifying zombie circulation system.

This is not the end. The crime of an insect called the emerald cockroach wasp is even more sophisticated. This wasp targets the brain of a cockroach with surgical precision. It does not just sting anywhere. It injects a precise neurotoxin that paralyzes only the specific nerves of the cockroach. The stung cockroach does not lose its physical abilities. Its legs are perfectly fine, and it has plenty of strength to crawl. However, it cannot run away. Why is that? It is because the instinct to feel fear and escape has been completely deleted. The cockroach walks submissively as the wasp leads it by holding its antennae. It has essentially become a zombie walking into hell on its own feet. The wasp drags this zombie cockroach into its dark burrow. Then, it lays eggs on top of the cockroach body. The hatched wasp larvae grow by eating the inside of the living cockroach.

Could this kind of horrific manipulation mechanism happen to humans as well? Masterminds that control the brain are hidden much closer to mankind than we think.

2. The Beginning of Human Zombies? The Secret of Brain-Paralyzing Neurotoxins

Then, can humans also become real zombies? The clue to this bizarre question lies in Haiti, a small island nation in the Caribbean Sea. A real zombie record has been passed down here since the 18th and 19th-century French colonial period. It is not simply an invented legend. At that time, numerous slaves lost their consciousness, were manipulated like zombies, and were overworked in sugarcane fields.

At the center of that secret lies the zombie powder made by Voodoo sorcerers. Sorcerers made a mysterious powder for people to inhale or applied it to their skin. The person hit by this powder immediately experiences an extremely slowed heart rate. Breathing also almost stops. They fall into a state of perfect suspended animation, to the point where even a doctor would issue a death certificate. Eventually, family members bury them in a grave while shedding tears.

The real horror begins after the funeral is over. The sorcerer digs up the grave secretly in the middle of the night. Then, they take out the buried person again. At this time, they feed them a special herb to wake them up. What happens to the person who woke up from the grave? They lose all their memories. They cannot even speak properly. They yield absolute obedience only to the commands of the sorcerer with unfocused eyes. They become slave zombies who only work day and night in the sugarcane fields during the day.

Modern science has uncovered the true identity of this horrific phenomenon. The core ingredient of zombie powder was tetrodotoxin. This is the pufferfish poison that we know well. This toxin is a fatal substance that paralyzes the human nervous system. If a very minute amount is used, it can plunge a human into a state of suspended animation without killing them.

As the oxygen supply to the brain is briefly cut off, the frontal lobe, which is responsible for human reason and judgment, is severely damaged. This is the reason why human zombies who lose their self-awareness and move only as told were born. It is not magic or a curse. It was a thoroughly calculated chemical brain manipulation.

3. The Reality of the Rage Virus? A Fatal Infectious Disease that Destroys the Brain

Is it possible to become a zombie through a biological virus rather than a chemical toxin? Scientists actually point to rabies as the real-world virus that shows symptoms most similar to zombies.

The rabies virus is mainly transmitted through the saliva of infected animals. Once this virus enters the body, it rushes toward the brain at a terrifying speed along the spinal cord. A horrible change begins the moment it reaches the brain. The virus ruthlessly destroys the human central nervous system. At this time, the limbic system, which regulates human emotions and aggressiveness, is severely ruined. When this place breaks down, humans completely lose their reason. They change into an extremely violent disposition and rush to bite any visible target randomly. It is the exact same appearance as the rage virus zombies in movies.

When entering the severe stage, the virus moves in large quantities to the salivary glands. Then, it manipulates the brain of the patient to make them afraid of water. This is called hydrophobia. Why does it prevent them from drinking water? It is because if the patient drinks water or swallows saliva, the zombie viruses tightly gathered in the saliva will enter the stomach of the patient and be washed away together. From the perspective of the virus, the weapon to bite and infect another person disappears. Therefore, the virus stops them from swallowing saliva and makes it overflow out of the mouth. It is a structure where the virus perfectly controls human behavior for its own reproduction.

As such, fatal substances that ruin the brain are not limited to viruses. In the biological world, a mutant protein called a prion also exists. This protein is not a living organism like a virus. However, it multiplies terrifyingly just like a virus and destroys brain cells. When the mutant prion dominates the brain, the human brain becomes riddled with holes like a sponge. Eventually, they completely lose their judgment, scream, and roam around limply because they cannot properly balance their body. Whether it is the rabies virus or the mutant prion, the ability to erase human personality and turn them into a moving shell already exists sufficiently in the natural world.

4. The Warning of Modern Science: The Combination of Genetic Modification and New Viruses

We have already confirmed the zombie phenomenon of the natural world in reality. Then, could mankind artificially create this kind of zombie virus? Regrettably, the dazzling development of modern biotechnology carries a fatal risk that could turn this scary imagination into reality. This is due to the abuse of gene-editing technology and synthetic biology.

Modern science has reached an amazing level of cutting and pasting the genes of living organisms at will. What would happen if a researcher harboring malice forcibly combined two fatal diseases? It is a scenario where the worst catastrophe in human history begins. For example, it is an experiment to plant the extreme violence and aggressiveness possessed by the aforementioned rabies virus into a flu virus that has a terrifying transmission power.

In fact, gain-of-function research, which artificially increases the transmissibility or fatality of a virus, is sometimes conducted secretly in the scientific community. It is the moment when a new mutant virus is born, one that spreads as fast as a cold but instantly destroys the brain of the infected to make them bite each other. Once it spreads to the world, a perfect zombie situation occurs that can never be controlled by the power of mankind.

Another massive risk factor is designing new biochemical weapons using artificial intelligence. Recently, AI technology has shown the ability to find tens of thousands of new toxin combinations in just a few hours. What if we command AI to design the worst virus that completely paralyzes the human central nervous system while existing vaccines or treatments do not work at all? AI quickly churns out the blueprint of a bizarre variant that humans could not even imagine. A horrific mutation that would not occur even over millions of years in a natural state is artificially created in a human laboratory.

Ultimately, if a real zombie disaster approaches reality, it will not be a curse of nature. It is highly likely to be a cruel man-made disaster created by the unstoppable greed of humans and the control failure of science and technology. This is the reason why we must listen to the darkest warning hidden behind the brilliant success of modern science.