The Zombie Vaccine

I love WIRED Magazine. If you are or have ever thought of stepping over the line and becoming a card carrying GEEK (like yours truly) then the publication is required reading. It is humorous and insightful and it occupies itself with tech and science for the geek masses. It’s a great read. Their website is a daily stop for me. There are some absolutely wonderful blogs there including “Geek Dad”, “Underwire” and “Danger Room”. Anyhow, while perusing the “Danger Room” blog I came across an interesting article by Katie Drummond entitled, “Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers”.

That got my attention.

As it turns out a team from Texas A&M has developed a “zombie vaccine” which is designed to save peoples lives after bodily trauma by stopping the heart (which stops people from bleeding out) and safely shutting down the brain (which stops “brain death”). The team is going to be moving to trials in pigs, which have very similar vascular system to ours (humans, that is) and, ultimately, on to humans. I’m not doing the story any justice by paraphrasing it so here is the link for you to check out for yourself: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/pentagon-zombie-pigs-first-then-hibernating-gis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher.

The potential military and civilian applications for this procedure are mind blowing. That “golden hour” between injury and treatment could be extended tenfold via suspended animation. There is no such thing as science fiction anymore. As Paul Simon once sang, “These are the days of miracle and wonder…” I believe that he was onto something there.