Zombified: Your Source for Fresh Brains

Join Zombified hosts Athena & Dave for an apocalyptish afternoon as we launch Season 3 of the Zombified podcast. We talk with immunologist Jessica Brinkworth and zombie apocalypse survival expert Cam Carlson about our current apocalyptish times. We also chat with Channel Zed director Ilana Rein, collaborating producer Erica O'Neil and host of the Dr. Zed Show, Joe Alcock. Don't miss the specia...

Are we ready for the apocalypse? In this episode, evolutionary anthropologist Mike Gurven explains how humans have encountered apocalyptic conditions - whether disease, disasters or war - throughout our evolutionary history. We talk with Mike about what the likely scale of destruction was in ancestral apocalypses, how sex helped us bounce back from population decimation, and why we need math to un...

In this episode, filmmaker Ilana Rein explains how screens zombify us for better and for worse. We talk about the mind-numbing comfort of zoning out on our screens, the creepiness of having Netflix algorithms poking our brains, and how her Alzheimer's afflicted mom avoided getting hijacked by a scammer by covering her computer with a tablecloth.

What was it like for Zombified co-host Dave Lundberg-Kenrick growing up with an evolutionary psychologist for a dad? Like growing up in a constant existential crisis, says Dave. In this episode we talk with Doug Kenrick, one of the founders of the field of evolutionary psychology (and Dave's dad) about how our evolutionary history has shaped our brains and behavior, making us susceptible to being...

Curious what makes for a successful internet meme? In this episode, we talk with Anthropologist and cultural transmission expert Lee Cronk about memes, fake news and lying to children. Lee explains why his kids thought they were going to the planet Zandar when they turned 14, what coney dogs are really made of, and how Nike's marketing department messed up in the 80s. We talk about how our recepti...

In this episode, Cristine Legare explains how imitation is at the heart of what makes us human. Cristine studies how kids learn through imitation, and how this helps kids learn what they need to know in order to survive and thrive in whatever environment they find themselves in. She also explains how our ability to imitate is both a great power and a serious vulnerability. Cristine offers a seriou...

In this episode, psychologist and evolutionary biologist Nichola Raihani talks talks about why being paranoid might not actually be so crazy. Nichola tells us about the many influences on paranoid thinking, the evolutionary reasons why we can be suspicious of others, and she explains the difference between paranoia and conspiracy thinking, If you're a little bit paranoid, or know somebody who is,...

Where do pandemics come from? In this Zombified episode, author and science communicator David Quammen talks with us about the origins of viral diseases and the stories behind how pandemics start and spread. We talk about bats and their role in zoonotic diseases, the origins of AIDS, and David presciently warns of the Zombie Apocalypse by way of single stranded DNA viruses (despite the fact that w...

Have you ever driven onto an airport runway when you were just following your GPS? In this episode of Zombified, we talk to technologist Katina Michael about the risks and opportunities that come from embedding ourselves more and more deeply in technology, and embedding technology more deeply in ourselves. From brain implants to the economic technopocalypse, we hear from Katina about how we can pr...

While you were in the womb, cells from your mom took up residence inside you. And cells from your baby body transferred to your mom as well, settling down in her tissues and organs. In this episode we talk with evolutionary biologist Amy Boddy about this phenomenon - called maternal-fetal microchimerism - and what it means for our understanding of who we are. If you've had a baby (or a few babies)...

Did you know that genes from your mom and genes from your dad battled it out inside you (and in your placenta) while you were in the womb? In this episode, Harvard evolutionary biologist, David Haig, explains where babies come from and how they hijack their parents to take care of them. From the intricate details of shark pregnancy to the parenting strategies of plants, David shares both curious s...

Has the birth control pill zombified you? Sarah Hill, author of "This is your brain on birth control," shares her personal experience with the pill, her expert knowledge as a hormone researcher and her also perspective on the politics of the pill in this episode. Yes, the pill fucks with us, she says, from messing with our stress system to changing our mating and dating preferences - but that does...

Has love turned you into a zombie? In this episode of Zombified, we talk to evolutionary psychologist and relationship expert Diana Fleischman about the many ways love zombifies us: from romantic relationships to parent-child interactions. She offers tips for how to train your boyfriend, how to resist getting behaviorally conditioned by those you love, and talks to us about when getting zombified...

Join us for the live launch of season 2 of Zombified. Athena and Dave chat with are awesome guests Diana Fleischman and Katina Michael about love, technology, the pluses and minuses of monogamy, and how to train your boyfriend. Listen alone or with someone you think you love.

In this episode, Anthropologist and hormone expert Mark Flinn give us his unique perspective on love: That love is essentially when you enjoy being exploited. He talks about how this 'loving exploitation' plays a role in our romantic relationships and our families. Is Mark's view of love cynical or undyingly romantic? You'll have to listen to find out!

Go behind the scenes with Zombified illustrator Neil Smith. In this delicious Zombified Brain Snack mini-episode, Neil tells us about his process for creating our insanely creepy-amazing episode illustrations and we talk about how design in general can take over our brains. If you like design, zombies or just sweat Neil's morbid aesthetic, you'll love this one.

In this tasty brain snack, we follow up on Mary Davis' suggestions in the Mindfulness Cure episode. Dave reports back about his attempts to de-zombify himself by implementing greater mindfulness in his life and work. Dave and Athena also discover they have very different attitudes about the social implications of distributing muffins in the office.

Looking for a delicious brain snack to tied you over until the next season of Zombified? In this tasty rabies flavored tidbit, we hear from Clive Wynne about the rabies virus and what happens to humans when we get infected. Spoiler alert: it has to do with sex.

Hungry for a brain snack between Zombified seasons? In our first ever mini-episode, we take a deep dive into Zombified's theme song, Psychological, with artist Lee Miles.

Emily Zarka has her go bag in the trunk of her car, just in case. And you’d be lucky to have her on your Z-team. Not only is she prepped with her Zombie Apocalypse supplies, she’s also got a PhD. in Monsters. In this episode, Emily talks with us about all things zombie - from how we can use the ZA as a way to prepare for disasters, to how zombies can help us reflect on being human. She explains ho...

Mark Mannucci is voraciously curious about the kind of creepy, deathly, science-gone-wrong stories that you can’t help but pay attention to. As a producer and director, he has been making movies and TV series about the morbid for decades, offering up his brains for projects about death, dying and darker side of science. In this episode we talk about brains in vats, living mortuaries, zombified nar...

Why are we so into monsters, zombies, and scary things in general? In this episode, physician and evolutionary biologist Barb Natterson-Horowitz explains why we seek out the frightening and the morbid, and how our fascination with things that can kill us can actually help us survive. Barb also explains why teenagers are likely to save us in the Zombie Apocalypse.

Keith Tidball has seen it all, from war to disaster to real-life zombies. In this episode he talks with us about how chaos can hijack us, how disasters affect human behavior, and how to keep your sht together when you’re in the red zone. Looking for psychological conditioning tips to increase your survival odds in the zombie apocalypse? Better listen to this one.

Joe Alcock is all about microbes and evolution. He is also an Emergency Room Physician who sees what microbes do to people every day - and it ain’t pretty. How do we keep our microbes from zombifying us against our will? In this episode we talk about the microbiome and how it can affect our health, our behavior and even our moods. Joe talks about mind controlling parasites, how our microbes can tu...

In this episode, comedian (and psychology PhD) Tom Wisdom covers the ins and outs of humor: why it makes us laugh, when it doesn’t and what it means for our evolutionary fitness to be funny. We also take a few detours into the physiology of laughter, what makes it involuntary (or voluntary), what laughter sounds like and why.