The Walking Dead (c) AMC

Do you know what to do if a zombie comes for you? 

What about a zombie horde?

Should you be preparing yourself for the zombie apocalypse?

Zombies can be traced back most often to Haitian vodou/voodoo.  Put in a simplified way, in voodoo tradition, someone can sprinkle you with zombie powder, which will make you sick and kill you - dead and buried.  The voodoo bokor (sorcerer) will come to your grave, sprinkle something else and you will rise from your grave  and spend the rest of your so-called "life" as a slave to the bokor's commands until your dry up and your limbs fall off and you're dead for real this time. Though there is not one verified account of a voodoo zombie, voodoo practitioners believe in zombification and Hollywood has capitalized on that belief.

There is little of voodoo zombies in modern Hollywood. When we think of zombies now we really are afraid of virus-infected enraged people, sometimes dead (or undead), sometimes alive. Sometimes super-fast, sometimes super slow, but in every scenario the cause is some type of virus or parasite or toxic and it is rapidly infectious. 

Could a virus really wreck us like that?

World War Z (c) Paramount Pictures

Should you and your family prepare an escape plan, maybe buy a remote cottage (mountainous terrain always seem safer in movies), stock up on canned food and ammunition to combat a possible horde?

To this day there is no known way that a dead person can be reanimated.

Viruses or diseases can spread like a pandemic, especially in crowded places. It has happened with the "Black Death" or Great Plague that wiped out a whooping 50-60% of European population (20-25 million) in the middle ages. That outbreak spread quickly due to the crowded and unsanitary conditions that people lived in.

And this too happens nowadays: the flu, salmonella, bird flue, Spanish flu, rabies, foot-and-mouth-disease... They spread quickly already and they kill. But they ARE contained, they do not reanimate the dead, and they do not take over your brain.

There is no virus or disease that has been shown to act like zombies, turning humans or dead people into mindless or raging killers. Sanitary conditions and medicines are way more advanced than in the middle ages. Sure, many people still live in poor conditions and they would probably be very badly affected by an outbreak. 

But the possibility that we, you, living in a suburban or urban area, would be victims to a zombie apocalypse are slim to none. So don't go buying that bunker yet.

Glossary:

Pandemic

More reading:

Read about the Black Death: BBC.

Scientists have developed multiple techniques for detecting viruses very quickly: Live Science.

zombies

INTRO INTRO

The platypus - you have seen it on "Phineas and Ferb" most likely. And we can't blame scientists for initially thinking this animal was a hoax. It is funny-looking to say the least. Better to be overly-cautious than too naive, right? Anyway, it is a real animal. It's a mammal that lays eggs (only 2 mammals do that). It is good on land and on the water. They shoot out toxic stingers from their feet... I mean, it is a wonder of nature for sure, an oddball but real animal. Learn more about it on National Geographic.

The Okapi - Is it a zebra crossed with a donkey crossed with a giraffe crossed with a deer? Nope. But it is a species all by itself. Native of Africa, a quiet and solitary creature, they are hard to find. Perhaps that's why scientists thought it was a myth. You can find out more about it on the San Diego Zoo Website.

The maned wolf is not a fox, despite what it looks like. And it's not even a wolf, despite its name. It is a species by itself (again, one of those), a Chrysocyon. Native to South America, it is quite tall and slender (3 feet, 50 pounds), perfect for foraging its habitat and hunting. Learn more about them on Smithsonian's National Zoo Website.

The Amazonian Royal Flycatcher sounds like an official title and looks like a very pompous being. This bird lives in the Amazonian rain forest (duh) and uses its very colorful crown to attract mates and fight other males for territory. Learn more facts about them on Fact Zoo.

Find more incredible-looking real animals on these websites: My Modern Met and Animal Planet.

Bonus: one fantastic beast that is definitely not real: The Unicorn.

world of wonder

So, what if you don’t believe in Bigfoot, ghosts, or aliens?

What do you do with friends and people who do believe in that stuff?

Well, you don’t have to fight everybody and be left without friends. You don’t have to argue about everything.

You overhear people talking about aliens or magical bracelets? Whatever floats their boat, man, good for them. Your friends are talking about Slender Man… well, sorry for them.

But what if someone asks you your thoughts about something? What if they show you a video or a picture or an article that they say is proof of something? Like, Bigfoot or an UFO or ghosts?

1.     Consider the source and motivation:

Consider the source, where this is posted: is it on an educational Website, a scientific Website, or just someone’s personal Website?

Who is telling you this thing? Is it a scientist, someone professional who has studied the thing they are showing you? Or is it some random guy who according to his own opinion, this thing must be what he says it is?

Think about why they posted this: it could be to simply entertain (because it’s funny, cool, or interesting), it could be a hoax, it could be advertising (you know, to get you to buy something), put there just to get Likes, Subscribers, or Followers.

2.     It is not your job to prove that’s not 

Bigfoot (or an alien, or a ghost, or whatever it is they are claiming). It is your friend’s job or whomever is showing it to you, or the YouTube channel -it is their responsibility to prove it to you, with scientific evidence.

They’re the ones making this big claim so they are the ones that have to prove it.

And just saying, “well don’t you see it’s blurry, don’t you see it looks like Bigfoot?” -that’s not proof.

“Well, the guy who took the video says it’s real” -that’s not proof (remember that people can lie, or it can be a hoax, or advertising, or just unknown).

“But how do you explain that sound, or that bottle falling by itself?” -you don’t have to explain it. You don’t know how it happened it, you weren’t there. But that doesn’t mean it’s a ghost that did it.

The point is, don’t immediately believe what you are looking at or listening to. Consider the source and motivation (like we explained above).

And, you don’t have to prove or explain that whatever it is is not what they say it is -it’s them that have to prove (with facts, scientific evidence) that it is what they say it is. They’re saying something incredible so they have to prove it.

At the end, you can agree to disagree and keep your friends.

To Read more:

•  VIDEO: How to evaluate a Website: GCSCL Library.
• Learn how to recognize a bad Website: Info Today.
• PRACTICE how to decide if a Website is good or bad: Media Smarts.

magical

Do aliens exist?

The simple answer is that most likely, aliens do exist. The universe is an infinite place and us humans haven’t even explored our own galaxy completely. So yeah, it is totally possible for other planets to have living organisms, living things.

But, are there aliens on our earth? Walking around in disguise or waiting beneath the ground to attack us one day? Do aliens visit us from time to time?

Even though we haven’t explored the entire universe, astronomers do understand enough to know that if there are beings in outer space, they probably live not in our Solar System, but on planets many light-years away. “The trip from their world to our world would be extremely difficult, requiring incredible amounts of energy, dedication, and sacrifice” ^₁. Just like it is practically impossible for us to travel outside our Solar System, it would be nearly impossible for others in far-away planets to travel to ours.

We have many satellites and advanced technology ourselves so that if an alien was approaching earth we would be able to detect it. No government in any country and no scientist has ever confirmed the existence of aliens in our planet. Not even J. Allen Hynek, famous astronomer and UFO researcher. He was unsatisfied with how the government investigated UFO reports. He investigated over 10,000 sightings and could not prove the existence of aliens.

What about all those UFOs? Well, that’s just what it means, that we haven’t identified those flying objects. It doesn’t mean they are alien spaceships. In almost 100 years of UFOs sightings, not one has been proven to be extraterrestrial.

Don’t feel bad if you still think that there are aliens. Many famous and smart people have said they believe in aliens. The fact is that, as we said in the beginning, we are probably not alone in the universe. There probably is intelligent life in another planet. In our planet Earth, we haven’t found any aliens yet. Even when we encounter something we don’t know, it doesn’t mean it’s aliens.

The bottom line is that no one has ever turned up any scientific evidence that would prove the existence of aliens.

^₁ Asimov, Isaac. UFOs. 2005. Gareth Stevens Publishing, Milwakee, WI.

To read more:

-         About astronomer J. Allen Hynek: Academic Kids.

-         Are we getting closer to discovering life in another planet? Time For Kids.

Do you want us to discuss any popular alien theories, like UFO sightings, Crop circles, Roswell, or abductions? Let us know in your comments or the Contact Us form below.

creatures

 

Were or are unicorns real?

Many animals (like the dodo bird and dinosaurs) have been extinct for a long time but we do know they existed.

Is it possible that some horse-looking or large animal with a single horn ever roamed the earth?

YES! It’s possible.

Even today we have the rhinoceros and the narwhal, who are single-horn real animals.

        

The Indian Rhinoceros                                                              A Narwhal

But the possibility of a single-horn animal, does not automatically make the animal magical.

When people talk about unicorns, they usually refer to a supernatural being (a white horse with pointy horn) with magical powers.

That, most definitely DOES NOT EXIST.

It is not a creature of the gods, that lives in heaven, and comes to visit earth. Its horn does not purify or cure illnesses.

 

Why do some people believe that such a creature does exist?

Many of the early stories about unicorns come from Persia (modern Iran). As far back as 400 B.C. the Greek historian Ctesia wrote about unicorns being a “single-horned beast that came from India” ^₁. Around 700 B.C. Pliny the Elder also wrote about the “Monoceros”, an Indian beast with a stag’s head, elephant’s feet, boar’s tail, and the rest of the body like a horse. Neither Ctesia nor Pliny ever saw such a creature themselves, but they retold the stories and brought the myth to our Western world.

It is possible that the Indian rhinoceros or the narwhal were mistaken for unicorns. Tales were told and embellished more as people told others and the story got retold.

There has never been found remains or fossils or real evidence of unicorns.

Of course, if unicorns don’t exist, then their tears (and their supposed powers) don’t exist either.

To read more:

-          About the early stories about unicorns and where the myths come from: Today I Found Out.

-          Animals most likely mistaken for unicorns: BBC.com.

-          It’s a deer with deformity: National Geographic.

-          North Korea says unicorns are real (a case where you have to study the source and the reason for the claim, before you believe it): Time.com.

^₁ Hamilton, John. Unicorns and Other Magical Creatures. 2005. ABDO Publishing Company, Edina Minnesota.

magical