Of the type often seen in movies where the body is rotten, no. Dead tissue doesn’t move.

However, there are approximations:

For starters there’s a type of fungus that hijacks ants, using it to spread its spores into other ants. It can control the ants movement to the point where it will cause the and to go to certain good spore-spread8ng places before the ant is devoured.

Then there’s the disease that affects raindeer in some places. I don’t remember the illness, but basically the mind goes byebye while the body is left to be controlled by less and less sophisticated parts of the brain, to the point where the animal can do nothing but walk in circles.

Undead Zombies? No. I’m no virologist, but I’ve read about a Rabies variety, or certain fungal infections. Fiction-wise, World War Z, or 28 Days type “zombies”, where the body is very much functioning, but the brain has been hijacked…

the type for brain hijacking definately, as theres a fungus that brainhijacks ants.

the type that that works on dead people, likely not. all viruses and stuff survive by trying to keep their host alive. the ones that kill their host die off quick.

We call them Republicans here in the US

By definition? No. Don’t listen to any of these, “exceptions.” You asked a direct question and the direct answer is no.

I’ve seen a living zombie hoard before, at a dump in Nicaragua where they lived. I was told they got high on sniffing shoe glue, which literally causes the brain to decay while they’re still “alive,” but they just shambled around in a big mob, seemingly aimlessly, with glue smeared under their noses.

No, until yes.

Atypical rabies I would say would be pretty close. Good thing rabies is pretty rare.

George A. Romero came up with the idea for flesh eating zombies (then referred to as ghouls) in the original NotLD after being inspired by the original novella of I am Legend… Which the monsters there are vampires. Zombies before that were simply mind controlled under Haitian voodoo.

Which version? If all you need is an uncoordinated, dopey person, I’m right here. /s

If undeath is required, no. It’s not even a concept that makes much sense without mind-body dualism, which is all but ruled out scientifically.

If this stuff sarts infecting humans yes. .

As with other versions, it’s not impossible but the zombie is unlikely to he viable more than a couple weeks, as decomposition doesn’t stop.

Yes, but not quite like the movies.

There is a parasite (I forget the name) that, when it infects a person (or a warm-blooded animal) starts living off the host and storing energy in sacs around the infection point. It often presents itself as tumours, as the sacs can get quite large. Between the sacs there is a voltage difference, it’s stored as chemical energy (like a battery with one side less electrons to allow for electron flow).

In severe cases, the parasite has had long enough to grow it’s own nerve pathways through the body that can be used like wires. At that point, the tumours are really advanced and enlarged and will usually kill the victim, if not before.

In an effort to spread itself to the next host, the parasite uses the stored chemical energy to activate muscles in the dead host and move the body around to find another host to infect. That’s where the whole ‘eating flesh’ thing in the movies come from, but it’s actually the parasite trying to break the skin and be able to jump to a new victim.

In reality, this stage only lasts a few hours but as long as the muscles haven’t deteriorated too much, it can be any ‘few hours’ movement within a couple days of death if the parasite is unable to immediately reinfect and instead waits for a period of time.

Yes but in a different way than literal. Zombie movies tap into a fear of a real-life monster called The Mob. When people become part of a Mob, they lose their humanity, and will destroy you mindlessly.

Like, if you see an angry mob coming your way, you need to treat it like a zombie situation. And the instinctual, evolved fear of that mob is exactly what zombie movies evoke in us.

If we set aside Hollywood for a moment to talk about something unexpected… this is a completely serious and rather interesting subject of study:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie

My position on the matter is that it is quite easy to design systems that are to some degree “intelligent” (for most definitions of intelligence), without possessing qualia (consciousness, subjective experience). Several such systems exist, and you have probably heard of them!

Moreover, I think many natural persons can be intelligent without being conscious, at least sometimes. I think many people have this experience when working on difficult problems, e.g. programming.

For Hollywood-style zombies? I would start with chemistry rather than biology. There are many substances that can alter our mood, body control, aggression, and consciousness. Find a mix that creates the effect you want, and create an implant (or make it an addictive drug mixture). Probably the result would be less consistent than hollywood-style zombies. It would not be contagious though.

Or if sci-fi, insert genes into a living person that encodes a system to internally synthesize the drug mix.

Edit: Something that makes most people into shuffling drones? Increases aggression? Spreads like a disease? A cynical answer would be that we have invented that already. We call it “capital”.

Scopolamine is a truth drug that renders people highly suggestive, unable to lie, and unable to lay down memories whilst under its influence.

Close to zombified.

Has been used in Colombia and South America.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/devils-breath-scopolamine-burundanga