Prions

[Randy]

If you haven't heard of prions, make sure you're sitting down. These infectious-disease-causing agents are responsible for things like mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease, and (possibly) Alzheimer's disease.

They work by essentially turning brains into Swiss cheese. Prions aren't fully living organisms like bacteria or parasites; rather, they're bits of misshapen proteins that cause other proteins to become deformed in a chain reaction until the brain is literally full of holes.

Because prions aren't truly alive, there's no real way to "kill" them. As a result, they can persist in the environment and stay contagious for years, even surviving normal sterilization techniques at hospitals and labs. Scientists are trying to understand how prions work on a basic level, and how to prevent them from accumulating in the environment and causing disease.

Thoughts?

 

[passenger]

Scared stiff of those things!

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Scared stiff of those things!

Me too