Professors have officially run out of things to study

[Kev]

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Science ponders 'zombie attack'

Someone somewhere funded this?????

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Yeah me and my mates were just like "roflwtf" they get paid to RESEARCH SOMETHING THATS NOT BLOODY REAL GOD DAMMIT

 

[barmyarmy]

This is how academia works though. To be fair a lot of things that turned out to be incredibly useful had no practical application at the time. This could save our lives one day... (or end them).

 

[Will_NA]

Since they're on the subject, how much blood would Dracula have to drink a day to operate efficiently? Plus, what species of flying monkey did the Wicked Witch of the West own?

 

[usy]

They could still do some research on British teachers and their humour?

 

[angryangy]

I think they make a good point, it's very similar to the concept of modelling infection in a population, but with a twist that tests the methods, so that even a completely new disease can be analysed quickly. Modern disease protocols generally focus on containment and quarantines, but it's not implausible that a disease could be so virulent or deadly as to require a different strategy.

Besides, the vast majority of mathematical papers are not even remotely focused on practical applications. Would you have complained about Newton messing about with calculus?

 

[Kev]

Would you have complained about Newton messing about with calculus?

Unless I was lied to at School, Calculus is real whereas Zombies aren't. If you want to do a serious study about disease and it's spread then do one on that, don't do one on a fictional creature and expect to be taken seriously.



Of course I could just be bitter that my study on Werewolves and their usage of internet explorer failed to find a backer. Not only that, but shortly before the 'Credit Crunch' my report on the credit worthiness of Vampires was repeatedly ignored by the banks.

 

[GIMH]

This is how academia works though. To be fair a lot of things that turned out to be incredibly useful had no practical application at the time. This could save our lives one day... (or end them).

There's hope for cricketdudemad yet