Tonight: Dr. Steven C. Schlozman dissects the zombie apocalypse with a scalpel ... of science!

In two years, the zombie apocalypse will be here. By 2013, two-thirds of the planet has been wiped out by Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome (ANSD), the zombie virus that kick-starts Armageddon. It's all right here in The Zombie Autopsies -- the new book by MGH faculty/Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor Dr. Steven Schlozman, who comes to Brookline tonight.

Fans of World War Z should rejoice -- no meta cuteness infects the universe of The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse. "The world is barren, hazy, apocalyptic," writes Dr. Stanley Blum, a neurodevelopmental biologist for the CDC, and the last scientist sent to the United Nations Sanctuary to study the zombie plague ANSD. By the time his journals are recovered, Blum is believed to be dead, but researchers hope his observations (which include many painstaking anatomical sketches of infected ghouls' viscera) hold the key to a cure for ANSD -- a virus that seems to be man-made. (And masterminded by evil hedge-fund investors, no less.) Blum himself shows no such optimism, however: "The world is barren, hazy, apocalyptic," Blum continues. "Only a fool would have hope."

In April of 2009, Schlozman gave a lecture at Coolidge Corner, where he not only explained the potential neurobiological underpinnings of zombie-ism, but also revealed the genesis of The Zombie Autopsies, which originally started as an eyebrow-raising fake research paper that snowballed into the book it is today.

>> PODCAST: Harvard psychologist explains the science of zombies [MP3 + video] <<

If (when) a zombie apocalypse becomes reality, we'll have a head start in understanding them thanks to Schlozman's neuropsych insights. "What if humans were all amygdala?" he asked the crowd. "Then, at least in the zombie genre, we would have rage." Groves of internet trolls have argued against the 28 Days franchise as being true zombie films, but Schlozman can explain why: "They seem to be able to move fluidly and with intention. They hunt. So they have some sort of higher cortical function going on that allows them hunt out the humans."

Tonight, the zombie doc returns to the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Whether you fancy the bloody mess of a good zombie tale or the meticulous world of scientific education, this should tickle all the right parts of your not-yet-eaten brain. Really, though, if you're human at all, you should clear your schedule this evening, because a life with ANSD sounds miserable.
 
Tonight. Coolidge Corner Theatre. 6 pm. Free. 617-566-6660 to reserve a ticket.