A Good Idea? Scientists Make Zombie Cells

You know that film or book where everything starts out with good intentions, but you just know something’s bound to go wrong, and the characters end up fleeing the ever hungry undead?

Well, that film’s playing right now only we’re the dopey characters waiting to be finished off by the numbers. Maybe it’s not that bad but a group of scientists from the Sandia National Laboratory and the University of New Mexico never watched any of those films or read any of those books.

Why not? Because within the last few years they’ve created dead ‘zombie cells’ and are quite pleased to see they perform better than living counterparts.

A good idea? Really?

The process involves using silica to coat the cells from mammals to create near-perfect replicas. These modified cells withstand greater pressures and broader temperature ranges than flesh while still performing many of the functions that they did when alive. The silicic acid effectively embalms the organic cells down to a microscopic level and creates a ‘permeable armour’ according to the report.

So what possible reason could these fun loving scientists have had to create these zombie cells? Apparently, there may be applications for things such as fuel cells, decontamination and even sensor technology as well as ‘commercial manufacturing’.

To be clear, these zombie cells are different from another lab creation, called the ‘mummy cell’ because these zombie cells can continue to do work in the future while still resembling their original form entirely.

Worried yet?

So there you have it, yet another possible source for the start a zombie apocalypse. I can see the headlines now – the laboratory is quickly overtaken by zombie cells, infecting living people and soon spreading around the country and then the world.

If only they had boned up on a zombie film or two before they started…