Ever wonder how long humanity would last after the zombie apocalypse, for real?
You look at shows like iZombie or The Walking Dead and think it'll last maybe five or six years, but a group of physicists at the University of Leicester have determined that it's much, much smaller. According to the Journal of Physics Special Topics, a peer-reviewed student journal run by the University's Department of Physics and Astronomy, humanity would be wiped out within 100 days after first exposure.
Using an SIR model, which is an "epidemiological model that describes the spread of a disease throughout a population," the study calculated that humanity - providing it did nothing to fight back against the onslaught of the living dead - would be well and truly finished off within three months, give or take a day or two.
The study, however, did not account for birth rates within the timeframe, nor did they account for deaths caused naturally, as the figures would have had little effect on the overall fate of humanity. The study also assumed "that a zombie will turn one person into a zombie each day with a 90% probability, meaning that each zombie is able to find a person every day."
The study concluded that, had humanity been given a chance to fight for its survival - either through medical research or a joined-up military response - there would be a far more hopeful outcome. Indeed, another study conducted showed that if humanity had a joined-up response and was able to kill zombies and couples were able to reproduce as well, humanity would likely wipe out the zombie hordes within 1,000 days and population levels would return to normal within 10,000 days.
Handy tip if it ever happens, eh? You can read both studies at the University of Leicester's website.
Via University of Leicester
