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| Mathematical biologist James Powell is advising students to wait out the zombie war — with water and ramen. |
Zombies will starve before infecting all of the humans at Utah State University.
Probably.
That's the prognostication of Utah State professor James Powell, who has been studying the current zombie infestation in northern Utah.
While fellow researchers at the university have been hard at work on a vaccine, Powell — an expert on mathematical biology — has been focused on predicting the future. His research estimates the outbreak will reach its zenith soon.
“Late Thursday or early Friday is when I would expect the peak apocalypse to be,” Powell said.
In the past Powell has conducted mathematical zombie experiments, but in a controlled setting. The recent outbreak has given him an opportunity to put his theories to the test.
Powell said many factors contribute to the data he has analyzed. He likened the outbreak to a sneeze in a room.
“I can’t infect everybody in that room," Powell said. “It takes a while. There are natural limitations at how rapidly the infestation can progress.”
Those limitations include zombies getting in each other’s way and running out of human bodies, causing the zombies to run out of energy, Powell said.
As such, he encouraged Logan residents to hide and wait.
“I think the thing to do is to grab a bucket of water, a couple packets of ramen, lock your doors and wait it out," Powell said. "Let the zombies starve and work on a vaccine for next time.”
Currently, there is no known vaccination for the zombie infestation.
Jacob Scholes, another human left uninfected, said he received an email notification this morning that mentioned a vaccine in progress. However, there still hasn’t been an official announcement of a complete vaccination.
“I’m just going to stick as close as I can to the captains and the other humans,” said Brittney McDonald, one of the humans still uninfected.
Powell, though, has little hope for a vaccine.
“If they were to have a vaccine for this time, they would have had it,” he said.
UnDeadline reporters Sarah Winder, Mandi West, Lindsey Snyder, Taylor Condie, and Ron Matheson contributed to this report.
