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

  • 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.

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    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....

  • 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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    The puppypocalypse: Clive Wynne

    June 4th, 2019  |  Season 1  |  1 hr 9 mins
    attachment, dogs, evolution, love, parenting

    Have you been zombified by your dog? This episode we chat with dog expert Clive Wynne about how our dogs hijack us - sometimes for our own good. We'll learn about how to prepare for the Puppocalypse and what do if you're already zombified by how fucking cute your dog is.