The world ending at the hands, and teeth, of a shambling horde of undead zombies seems like a nightmare, but the virtual world of survival horror titles like Resident Evil 6 may not be that far-fetched.

As research scientist Andrew Voak points out, there are many real life parasites that alter the behaviour of their host: "Hyper violence, aggression, you already see that with rabies, so that's already not a particularly big stretch.

If we're then talking about reanimated corpses maybe we're talking into science fiction, but then again, if it didn't have any science in it would just be fiction."

While the undead may remain a hypothetical threat, Voak still had advice for surviving a potential zombie apocalypse.

If caught in an encounter with a ravenous cadaver you could fight back by "removing the head or destroying the brain".