Prions Observed Jumping Species Barrier 214
palegray.net writes "Nature is reporting on new findings that prions jump species barriers. Believed to be responsible for ailments such as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and 'mad cow' disease, prions are thought to disrupt biological processes by causing normal proteins to fold abnormally. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston have observed infectious prions from hamsters causing abnormal protein development in mice, along with a range of other observations on prion actions in test tube environments. From the article: '... they also found that when a prion jumps species, it produces a new kind of prion. "This is very worrisome," says Claudio Soto, who led the research, published in Cell. "The universe of possible prions could be much larger than we thought."' Sounds like another good reason to donate your spare CPU cycles to projects like Folding@home."
Re:comparison (Score:3, Funny)
The bigger story (Score:2, Funny)
Nature is reporting on new findings that prions jump species barriers
It's confirmed. Our planet (i.e. Nature) is sentient and into science journalism!
Oh No! (Score:2, Funny)
Help feed a hungry test tube. (Score:2, Funny)
"The universe of possible prions could be much larger than we thought."' Sounds like another good reason to donate your spare CPU cycles to projects like Folding@home."
Can I donate my spare prions instead?
Re:Folding@Home (Score:4, Funny)
Your email isn't shown publicly, so I have decided to reply instead.
There is a very insightful comment here [slashdot.org]
Prof. X got a name for them (Score:4, Funny)
"This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward."
"We called them, X-Prions"
Re:While troubling, also cool. (Score:5, Funny)
Your name is not "Murphy" by any chance?
Re:Folding@Home (Score:2, Funny)
Or do all four: both, twice.
Re:Folding@Home (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Folding@Home (Score:2, Funny)
Or better yet, don't.
Considering you've been here all of about a month and you're already complaining, save us some time and go fuck yourself.
Re:Folding@Home (Score:3, Funny)
It's like the Republican convention, without the funny hats.