Athena Aktipis

Zombified by design: Neil Smith

December 19th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  39 mins 32 secs

art, behind the scenes, design

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.

Dave's mindfulness

November 6th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  44 mins 14 secs

mindfulness, muffins, stress

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.

Rabid: Clive Wynne

October 21st, 2019  |  Season 1  |  11 mins 55 secs

dog, rabies, sex

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.

The Sound of the Apocalypse: Lee Miles

October 7th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  31 mins 54 secs

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.

Duct tape before guns: Emily Zarka

July 30th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 6 mins

disasters, monsters, movies

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 how in movies zombies are often a red herring for the real monsters, us humans. She also shares her Zombie Apocalypse tips, from writing your critical survival notes in pencil (so they don’t run if they get wet) to all the things you can (and should) do with duct tape.

Insatiable: Mark Mannucci

July 23rd, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 10 mins

brains in vats, curiosity, movies

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 narcissists, and the perils of insatiable curiosity.

Curiosity kills: Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

July 16th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  54 mins 8 secs

adolescence, fear, predators, risk

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.

The red zone: Keith Tidball

July 9th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 17 mins

chaos, disaster, war

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 sh*t 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.

Microbial Zombification: Joe Alcock

July 2nd, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 9 mins

microbiome, mind control, parasites

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 turn against us sometimes, and what all this means for our understanding of what really goes on during death and dying.

Laugh like a Zombie: Tom Wisdom

June 25th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 14 mins

funny, humor, laughter

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.

Zombie friends: Jaimie Krems

June 18th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 9 mins

frenemy, friend, indirect aggression, mean girls

Your friends have your best interests at heart. Don't they? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. In this episode, friend expert Jaimie Krems talks about the good and the bad of friends influencing our behavior. She also offers some tips on dealing with controlling friends without getting zombified.

Get Zombified! Season 1 live launch

June 11th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  51 mins 56 secs

dogs, puppies, stress

Have you been Zombified? Listen to our live launch of Season 1 of the new Zombified Podcast! Hosts Athena and Dave talk about how the podcast started, how and why are susceptible to zombification and some of our favorite things to be zombified by. We chat with Clive Wynne about the Puppypocalypse, Mary Davis about The Mindfulness Cure and with our live studio audience about all the things that take over our brains, including podcasts....

Stress zombies: Mark Flinn

June 8th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  59 mins 18 secs

magic, stress, witchcraft

In this episode, Anthropologist Mark Flinn explains how witchcraft works and how manipulation of the stress system is key to its effectiveness. Mark admits to being a witch himself (albeit a good one) and describes how our mental health and physical health is intimately tied to our social relationships - and how witchcraft works by breaking down trust and raising anxiety.

The mindfulness cure: Mary Davis

June 8th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 10 mins

mindfulness, stress

If you're zombified by stress, this episode is definitely for you. We talk with stress and mindfulness expert Mary Davis about how stress changes the way we think and makes us more vulnerable to being manipulated. Mary also gives us a crash course in how to use mindfulness practice to counteract the mind-less-ness of being a stressed out zombie.

Monster algorithms: Ed Finn

June 8th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 14 mins

cyborg, monsters, technology

Ed Finn knows what algorithms want: brains. In this episode we explore how technology has been changing our capacity for autonomous action, how monsters are more than just a metaphor for our relationship with technology and how algorithms deployed by powerful tech companies zombify us. Hold on to your brains for this one.

The zombie diet: Corrie Whisner

June 8th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 23 mins

diet, eating, microbiome

If you’re worried that you’ve been zombified by your diet, listen on! In this episode, nutritionist and ASU professor Corrie Whisner talks about food, diet and the nutritional needs of zombies. How does our relationship with food relate to our personal autonomy? How can we tell fact from fad in the diet industry? How many calories are in a brain? All your zombie diet questions, all answered here.