Zombies could exterminate humanity in less than six months, according to recent research conducted by students who clearly have too much time on their hands.
Students at Leicester University were tasked with calculating the exact amount of time it would take for a zombie virus to infect every individual on Earth. To do this they developed a mathematical model for disease that predicts how an infection will spread through a population over time.
The formula they developed calculates that 100 days into a zombie outbreak, just over 100 survivors would be left uninfected, and that within six months, these stragglers would also die or become zombies themselves.
Any of you reading this right now and thinking, '...this is bullshit. If the apocalypse comes I'll just fend them off", could possibly take this video as useful research.
This is what a zombie apocalypse could be like. Credit: Last Empire-War Z & Ampisound
Because the researchers were unable to take the fact humans can fight back into account, they have admitted that their projections are less than perfect.
Concluding their study, they admitted: "Natural birth and death rates have been neglected since the epidemic takes place over 100 days, so the natural births and deaths are negligible compared to the impact of the zombie virus over the short time frame.
"We also assumed that a zombie will turn one person into a zombie each day with a 90 percent probability, meaning that each zombie is able to find a person every day. As the zombie to human ratio increases, this becomes less realistic. A more developed model might vary.
"We have also not included the possibility for the humans to kill the zombies, which may give the humans a better chance at survival."
So while this research might have sounded worrying at first, looks like you might still be alright as long as you have a baseball bat at home, or better still a shotgun, unless you believe the noise will attract them. Let's hope we never have to find out.
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Research