Eating Brains

Continuing my zombie interests, I decided to check out the TV series iZombie. I enjoyed watching Season One, and am looking forward to seeing what comes next, although I may have to wait awhile. I have Season Two on hold at my local library, and circulation wait times have increased thanks to Covid, so I’m not sure when my turn comes around.

 

iZombie is basically a police procedural, sorta like a cross between Bones (I watched several seasons some years ago) and Medium (which I haven’t watched). The main protagonist, Liv Moore, has her life turned upside down or inside out, personally, professionally, and most interesting to me, metabolically. From star medical intern, Liv gets turned into a zombie, and develops a craving to eat human brains. What does she do? Get a job at the medical examiner’s officer to examine deaths, so she can get her steady supply of brain-munchies. If she doesn’t keep eating them, she’ll become less human and more classic-zombie-like.

 

But there are side effects.

 

First, she sees visions from the point of view of the deceased. This helps her aid the police solve a number of murder cases, and yes, she has a cop liaison buddy (who thinks she’s a weird psychic) a supportive boss (who is trying to cure her by doing experiments on zombie rats). Second, she takes on personality traits of the deceased which allows the actress (Rose McIver) to play all sorts of interesting character-types. Third, she develops some of their skills which is cool – understanding and speaking a new language, becoming a pro hacker, and being a skilled marksman, were some of the interesting showcases.

 

What’s going on here?

 

Scientifically.

 

I’ve avoided reading any websites analyzing or speculating this topic, so the following is purely from my stream of consciousness. It seems that in eating the brain, something of that brain goes to your brain – at least in the zombie metabolism. In humans, eating brains (monkey brains being a delicacy in some cultures) doesn’t give you visions, personality traits, or skills, of monkeys or any other species. You might get a tummy-ache. But back to zombies. The gut has sometimes been dubbed the ‘second brain’. Perhaps in zombies, digestion of the brain matter provides appropriate physical material or electrical signals from gut to brain. Somehow there’s a merging between the you who is you and the who you just ate. That could explain the visions and the personality traits.

 

But there’s more. Liv exhibits the muscle memory of the skills of her eatees. So it’s not just gut brain to skull brain. A bunch of other body subsystems get involved in the temporary transformation. How does all this happen? I haven’t a clue. The only thing that comes to mind is parabiosis – y’know, how vampires stay young by consuming the blood of youthful others. We humans are very interested in parabiosis. Okay, some of us humans. Okay, okay, I find it sorta interesting. I can even recommend a very readable recent review paper, “Young Blood Rejuvenates Old Bodies”, citation and abstract shown below.

 

In the Matrix movies, you can upload (or download?) skills into your mind/body that can then be utilized by your virtual self, kungfu for example. Seems plausible. Not so easy for the real self where it takes a lot longer to train the muscle memory. Could you do it magically? In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Krum’s (partial) transformation into a shark-like creature gives him the swimming abilities, although Harry’s gillyweed-munching does the same more effectively. Poisons can immobilize us. Drugs can provide enhanced performance. Perhaps it’s not so far-fetched after all with chemistry at the heart of things!

 

We have a book on the neuroscience of zombies. Maybe, there should be one on the biochemistry or metabolism of zombies! There’s a whole (nutrition) industry around enhancing your smarts with brain food. iZombie gives it a new twist. Brain as food.