Becoming undead for love: Season 2 of the 'Zombified' podcast launches on Valentine’s Day

"Zombified" is about to launch its second season this Valentine's Day. Season 1 is available to stream now.

By Robert Ewing |
February 11, 2020

This Valentine’s Day, Arizona State University’s Athena Aktipis wants you to think about how love can turn you into a zombie.

Aktipis, assistant professor of psychology, and David Lundberg-Kenrick co-host the "Zombified" podcast, sponsored by Arizona State University's Department of Psychology. The podcast covers everything that can secretly manipulate human behavior, from puppies to electronic devices. Season 2, titled “Undead Love,” launches on Feb. 14, and listeners can now access the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein and fireside. The first episode of Season 2 features evolutionary psychologist and relationship expert Diana Fleischman and ASU Professor Katina Michael, who answer questions about love and how it can zombify people, making them act irrationally and potentially in a way that is not conducive to their own self-preservation.

“What should you expect in Season 2 of 'Zombified?' Mind-blowing conversations about placentas, bacteria having sex and people following their GPSs into lakes. We learn so many surprising things in the conversations we have on the show,” Aktipis said.

Watch the livestream of the Episode 1 recording at 5 p.m. Feb. 11.

Zombified’s second season will cover topics ranging from the apocalypse, becoming a “mombie,” paranoia, sabotaged motives and placental hijacking. Every episode not only discusses these threats, but potential solutions to them and ways you can protect yourself.

Have you been zombified by your dog? This episode we chat with dog expert Clive Wynne about how our dogs hijack us — sometimes for our own good. We'll learn about how to prepare for the Puppocalypse and what do if you're already zombified by how cute your dog is.

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations
Emily Zarka has her go bag in the trunk of her car, just in case. Not only is she prepped with her zombie apocalypse supplies, she’s also got a PhD in monsters. In this episode, Zarka talks with us about all things zombie — from how we can use the ZA as a way to prepare for disasters, to how zombies can help us reflect on being human. She also shares her zombie apocalypse tips.

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations
If you’re worried that you’ve been zombified by your diet, listen on! In this episode, nutritionist and ASU Assistant Professor Corrie Whisner talks about food, diet and the nutritional needs of zombies. How does our relationship with food relate to our personal autonomy?

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations
If you're zombified by stress, this episode is definitely for you. We talk with stress and mindfulness expert Mary Davis about how stress changes the way we think and makes us more vulnerable to being manipulated. Davis also gives us a crash course in how to use mindfulness practice to counteract the mindlessness of being a stressed-out zombie.

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations
In this episode, comedian (and psychology PhD) Tom Wisdom covers the ins and outs of humor: why it makes us laugh, when it doesn’t and what it means for our evolutionary fitness to be funny. We also take a few detours into the physiology of laughter, what makes it involuntary (or voluntary), what laughter sounds like and why.

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations
In this episode, anthropologist Mark Flinn explains how witchcraft works and how manipulation of the stress system is key to its effectiveness. Flinn admits to being a witch himself (a good one) and describes how our mental health and physical health is intimately tied to our social relationships — and how witchcraft works by breaking down trust and raising anxiety.

Design by Neil Smith from Neil Smith Illustrations

Aktipis recognizes the need for improving the accessibility of science and having people recognize that not only is research interesting, but it can be fun as well.

“The goal of the 'Zombified' podcast is to bring conversations about science and society to everyone, including fellow academics and the general public,” Aktipis said. “The zombie angle lets us have fun communicating science by using humor and framing our conversations with guests in terms of the zombie apocalypse.”

If Feb. 14 seems like too long to wait for Season 2, Aktipis and Lundberg-Kenrick recently recorded between-season episodes called “Brain Snacks.” The most recent Brain Snack answered the question: “Is love essentially when you enjoy being exploited by somebody else?”

Season 1 of Zombified is currently available online in its entirety.