Zombified: Your Source for Fresh Brains

Athena Aktipis and Dave Lundberg-Kenrick talk with a delightful mix of thinkers sharing their delicious brains on all topics having to do with zombification and what it means for who we are. A production of Zombified Media and Arizona State University.

About the show

Is something taking over your brain? Zombified is a podcast about how we are vulnerable to being hijacked by things that are not us. From microbes hijacking behavior, to humans influencing each other, to our brains being taken over by social media, we talk about why zombification happens, why we are susceptible to it, and what we can do about it. Hosted by Dr. Athena Aktipis, a Psychology Professor at Arizona State University and the founder of the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Alliance, and co-hosted by zombie enthusiast Dave Lundberg-Kenrick, “Zombified” takes a radically interdisciplinary approach to the science of zombification. If you enjoy fresh brains, this podcast is for you!

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Episodes

  • Bat shit: David Quammen

    March 10th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 36 mins
    corvid19, outbreak, pandemic

    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 through 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 we recorded this episode before the COVID19 outbreak).

  • My GPS made me do it: Katina Michael

    March 3rd, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 20 mins
    ethics, technology

    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 protect our humanity, or at least give it up more gracefully as we relinquish more and more of our autonomy to devices and the algorithms that live inside them.

  • Microchimeric mombie: Amy Boddy

    February 25th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 1 min
    babies, microchimerism, pregnancy

    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), cells from those babies may be inside your body and brain right now, proliferating and interacting with the rest of you. What are they doing and why? Listen and find out!

  • Placental hijacking: David Haig

    February 14th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  57 mins 56 secs
    placenta, pregnancy, sharks

    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 sex facts and disturbing strategies of reproduction across the tree of life. And you'll learn more than you wanted to know about the most wonderful and creepy organ of all, the placenta.

  • Pill brain: Sarah Hill

    February 14th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 34 mins
    birth control, health

    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 doesn't mean we should get rid of it. If you've struggled with finding birth control that doesn't mess with your brain, dated somebody who has, or you're simply interested in the biology and politics of hormonal contraception and women's health, you'll love this episode.

  • Love zombies: Diana Fleischman

    February 14th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 8 mins
    behavior, dating, love

    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 in relationships might not really be such a bad thing.

  • Undead love: Season 2 live premier

    February 14th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 10 mins
    love, technology

    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.

  • Loving exploitation: Mark Flinn

    January 20th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  33 mins 30 secs
    families, love, romance

    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!

  • 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.