What can you learn from a zombie? Maybe a lot.

At least that's what a University of Michigan professor hopes her 31 graduate students took away from Tuesday's bizarre, albeit bloody, "zombie apocalypse." The classroom exercise was designed to get School of Public Health students thinking about what the appropriate response should be during a disaster.

Four times as many students who typically attend Epidemiology 651, "Epidemiology and Public Health Management of Disasters," were on hand Tuesday to welcome -- or become -- the undead. The zombie exercise was modeled after a curriculum designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a handful of CDC staffers also participated.

"'Zombie apocalypse' sounds a bit silly, but the point of this is to show that if we're prepared for any hazard, even the unimaginable hazards, like zombies -- because we know they don't exist -- we are capable of preparing ourselves for perhaps anything that might occur," said Dr. Eden Wells, the epidemiology professor who teaches the course and serves as the brains behind the exercise.

Wells initially wasn't sure she'd be able to persuade enough students to dress up as the undead. But by Tuesday, 120 "zombies" and other participants were on hand to take part in the exercise. As the doors to the lecture hall on the Ann Arbor campus flung open, an army of the undead unexpectedly lurched in, their arms stretched forward and their faces painted with faux blood as they aimlessly staggered among the smiling students.

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Well, we already know that the Wall Street CEOs have been raking in the money...again this year. But how is the rest of America holding up?

Via:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans - nearly 1 in 2 - have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too `rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."

I really, really don't like to be the bearer of bad news. You can do something about this growing income disparity...Occupy!