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Location: Anatomy of a Zombie
Discussion: How could they move?
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xombiez |
How could they move?
Dec 1 2008, 9:06 PM EST
I may have just missed the part in the Zombie Survival Guide, but i dont believe max brooks explained how a zombie could even twitch a muscle without bloodflow. a circulatory system is CRUCIAL to the function of every body system, and no matter whether the brain is oxygen-independent the muscles still require oxygen, glucose, protein and several other nutrients to continue moving. many people think of the muscles as just a large mass, however, they are in fact a large amount of pulsating cells that need nutrients to live. so, a max brooks zombie could simply not function, because he states that the digestive and circulatory system do not work. very simply put, a reanimated zombie would definitely need a circulatory, digestive, and cardiovascular system to function. this also brings into question the importance of the head shot. it wouldn't be necessary with the possibility of bleeding them to death. a shot to the heart or an arterial cut could kill them.
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Stirred |
1. RE: How could they move?
Dec 1 2008, 9:32 PM EST
Well he also stated that the virus creates and additional organ in the brain. His book would not be entirely accurate if zombies were to exist but maybe it floods the body of new cells with the new organ. Just like AIDS creates cells to counteract the white blood cells. And it would still have blood but it would be coagulated. My theory is that the blood is still dead but is more of a store of energy for the new organ and it slowly diminishes over time as the zombie breaks down. And the digestive system isn't a big deal because in theory the coagulated blood could just absorb nutrients from the new organ and the outside world.
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silversun809 |
2. RE: How could they move?
Dec 2 2008, 1:30 AM EST
how couldn't you know? they're basically UNDEAD!! they're basically vampires or werewolves except theyre dumb, (most of their species) and that they have been brought back to life, they don't need blood, zombies are immortal creatures depending on what you believe...
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xombiez |
3. RE: How could they move?
Dec 4 2008, 8:02 PM EST
"how couldn't you know? they're basically UNDEAD!! they're basically vampires or werewolves except theyre dumb, (most of their species) and that they have been brought back to life, they don't need blood, zombies are immortal creatures depending on what you believe..."MAX BROOKS ZOMBIE. a scientific, not paranormal view of the subject. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
Rhenn |
4. RE: How could they move?
Jan 4 2009, 3:02 AM EST
Hmm...I have two theories regarding the subject. FIRST: my first and second theory is the mixture of both of your ideas! xombiez's idea is that every body needs a lot of nutirents to move, and Stirred's idea is that there is a new organ in the brain, so my theory is this: IF there is an additional organ in the brain caused by the virus, and that the blood existing in the zombie acts like an energy source, then, the additional organ uses, not the energy, but the BLOOD itself, to generate nutrients and some sort of cells that can act as blood for the body to move. Hey, if we shoot a zombie, and one of its body parts are lost, then it may lose a lot of blood, but the zombie can still move, doesn't it makes sense that the virus can OR may also recreate blood in a new form for the zombie? SECOND: as I've told on the first theory, this theory is also another idea in the mixture of both Stirred and xombiez's ideas. If the whole body of a zombie needs nutrients and that there is a new organ in the brain due to the virus, and it uses the blood to be new sources of energy, then: Wouldn't it be like this?: the virus created the new organ, but the new organ ALSO releases cells of the virus for the zombie to pass to its victim through contact. The zombie just passes a certain amount of virus to the person and the zed also eats some of its blood, then, it may have some for its own use to move. Remember, blood also contains some nutrients that are essential to move. Hemoglobin on the red blood cells are made up of iron remember? And a tissue is made up of blood. And that certain tissue may be one of the important nutrients for the zombie's body to move! 4 out of 5 found this valuable. Do you? |
shattered_z |
5. RE: How could they move?
Jan 18 2009, 2:04 AM EST
what happens when a living human doesnt get nutrients? they die. so a zombie isnt in need of nutrition. a very limited part of a zombie brain is still active which controls motor function with electrical impluses, now youre going to say neurotransmitter this and receptor that, but those only function in a live human. so assuming its a virus or infection (i dont believe magical/paranormal zombie) the virus could increase the electrical impluses in the body to cause muscle movement. just like hooking electrodes to a cadaver and sending the pulses causing it to twitch. something like that.
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corpsicle |
6. RE: How could they move?
Jan 18 2009, 2:16 AM EST
Yes, but it isn't just electrical impulses it is chemical, ATP Adenosine triphosphate and glucose to move the myosin heads along the actin filiments, it is really phisiologically kind of complicated. but sans glucose the muscles won't contract, If you apply a current to a freshly detached muscle, it will move, wait an hour or so and try it again, Nada. The chemicals degrade and or leech out. Not trying to be a killjoy as this happens to be my favorite fictional genre.
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mercurior |
7. RE: How could they move?
Jan 18 2009, 7:24 AM EST
there are mind controlling insects, they control caterpillars, to protect their eggs. if this virus is more like a parasite, itcould make the body, its defence system, if thats true, it could create analogues of atp. by destroying eating the blood and conveting it. there should be a upper limit, of course, but it could explain how they are able to function for longer.so you would have to have 2 systems running, atp/glucose, and electrical impulses. its not beyond imagining, it does predispose a awareness in the viral structure. i would say it would be more like a parasitical symbiote. but thats my opinion Do you find this valuable? |
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xombiez |
8. RE: How could they move?
Jan 18 2009, 3:09 PM EST
everything is in need of nutrients to move. the max brooks zombie does not have a functioning digestive or respiritory system, so although many of the theories are possible, they don't apply to this scenario.
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corpsicle |
9. RE: How could they move?
Jan 19 2009, 6:59 PM EST
Okay, how 'bout this for a viable theory; The virus is not a protein but either human or E.T. nano-tech gone amok?
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womule2005 |
10. RE: How could they move?
Jan 19 2009, 7:11 PM EST
i view of them has alway been that they are not actually "undead" but have suffered severe brain damage from the virus since it acts in a similar way to rabies. they are dumb slow and uncoordinated because of braindamage. they would still retain basic motor functions and a minimal resparatory and cirulatory system as the brainstem and small portions of the brain are relatively functional
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ConradJacobs |
11. RE: How could they move?
Jan 19 2009, 7:25 PM EST
This is the part were zombies being fictional comes into play.
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corpsicle |
12. RE: How could they move?
Jan 19 2009, 9:30 PM EST
Okay, think about the viral process, RNA type, the goal of the virus is to inject genetic material into specific cells, use the components of said cell to assemble more viruses until the cytolysis( cell explodes releasing more viruses. In the case of a DNA virus, the viral genetic material "fuses" with the cell's DNA thereby creating more virus DNA each time the cell divides. The wart virus is DNA, the only way to eliminate it is to remove the host cells. So eventually a Zombie will be consumed by the virus. Therefore I (as aforementioned) believe the only way a zombie could be motivated is by a type of nano-virus, a self replicating machine that simply uses the carbon and salts of the body and can communicate with each other forming a kind of network or continuously growing collective consciousness.Whew! now that was a run-on sentence. Do you find this valuable? |
qazlp10 |
13. RE: How could they move?
Feb 5 2009, 9:57 AM EST
If you have enough time to worry about how they're moving, you should be moving instead.
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corpsicle |
14. RE: How could they move?
Feb 5 2009, 6:35 PM EST
"If you have enough time to worry about how they're moving, you should be moving instead."I do, at least when the temp goes above 0 to 10 degrees. Do you find this valuable? |
Shrarah |
15. RE: How could they move?
Feb 5 2009, 6:51 PM EST
This almost exactly what I think it all is... but also....Don't the Z's get nutrients from eating humans/animals?!?!!?!? I thought that was their main purpose and source of food!. Do you find this valuable? |
Ghost-5145 |
16. RE: How could they move?
Feb 5 2009, 9:35 PM EST
"Hmm...your idea reminds me of Dead Space for ps3 where the necromorphs (aka spacezombies) could not be killed by head shot but instead you destroy limbs to immobilize it. with your idea of it taking blood from the body for fuel makes for a good reason to peck off limbs and not heads like the modern stereotype of zed is,(even in death and reanimation, you are still persecuted...). 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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qazlp10 |
17. RE: How could they move?
Feb 6 2009, 7:31 PM EST
I've always thought that the virus was actually transforming the undead into a new creature, not quite like Resident Evil but more like a moving fungus colony. The virus transforms the cells into new cells(instead of destorying them like most viruses). These new cells act together just like in our bodies to create a new life form, that use peices(in some cases including the brain) of the old life form to exist. I think in most cases nuitrients(sp?) would be transferred like they are in a fungus colony, just sort of asborbed, which is why they can't die from blood loss. This would even allow some parts to rot while others remain functional. It also means they don't have or need central organs(heart, lungs, stomache, etc). However as this is very inefficent, it would also explain why they fall apart so easy in bad weather(extreme hot or cold). I just can't work why destorying the brain would work in the line of thinking.
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Zombiefreeworld |
18. RE: How could they move?
Feb 6 2009, 7:37 PM EST
has anyone thought of the virus being a variant to something like a stem cell. Where it does not decompose due to the viruses ability to regrow dead cells
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zedkiller |
19. RE: How could they move?
Feb 9 2009, 2:36 AM EST
it think it would be a variant of rabies that actually decomposes the brain to a certain point to which the blood in the body flowed enough to function the muscles but without much coordnation (which explains there inability to climb) and the decomp is explain by such a decrease in blood flow that the muscle starts to eat itself for oxygen and protien but so slowly that to a weary survivor it seems for ever. also the eating human flesh is probably a thing the virus does that causes the body to bite to spread it virus.
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