About This Episode

There’s no escaping the Zombie Apocalypse when Neil deGrasse Tyson interviews Max Brooks, the world’s leading “authority” on these nonexistent killers. The author of World War Z discusses fast and slow zombies and the latest in “zombie science” — mathematical models of how a zombie virus would spread and a Harvard doctor’s book about zombie brain patterns. You’ll find out why a cemetery is the safest place to be in a zombie apocalypse, and what’s inside Eugene Mirman’s “evil beef jerky.” But it’s not all fun and games: Dr. Ian Lipkin, Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia, is on hand to warn us about the really scary stuff: viruses like HIV, SARS, Ebola, Cholera, Influenza and a million others yet to be discovered. Are we all doomed? You’ll have to wait until Part 2 to find out.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Zombie Apocalypse (Part 1).