Random Musings of a Medical Science Nerd
Today, a short and perhaps amusing biology lesson for you all. Every now and again, I like to spend some of my free time browsing the science and tech postings over at ars technica. Two weeks ago, I came across an article that I found rather fascinating, and slightly terrifying: (Brief) write-up located here Reading this article made me think about my Pre-Nursing days in A&P, when our instructor first gave us a mini-lecture on the subject of prions, an extremely dangerous class of biological agent that is neither viral, nor bacterial, nor parasitic. So, what are they? They are nothing more than proteins with an abnormal structure. However, it is the manner in which they work that is what make them so dangerous. Infection is a death sentence, as there is no known cure for prion infection. As I was thinking about said lecture, I realized something fundamentally terrifying: ZOMBIES ARE REAL  ... well, they are real on the molecular scale, at least. If one of these things gets inside your body, it will set to work "infecting" other proteins, mutating their structure and causing them to become prions themselves, which in turn "infect" other normal proteins. Important to remember is the fact that prions ARE a biological agent, which means they can be destroyed. Unfortunately, this is extremely difficult to do, as one of the only truly effective ways to destroy prions without the use of special equipment or somewhat complicated chemical treatments is by incinerating infected tissue at a very high temperature, breaking the chemical bonds that shape the peptide chains of the protein into the overall structure of the protein (An effect termed "denaturization"). Worse than a "true" zombie, the average person, lacking the required equipment and resources, would pretty much have to "kill" (molecular) zombies WITH FIRE Another thing: All known prion structures aggregate in neurological tissue of infected persons or livestock and are the causative agents of Mad Cow Disease and one of the human equivalents, Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Once it gets in said neurological tissue, the infectious process essentially destroys the brain tissue, leading to dementia-like symptoms, weakness, loss of motor control, and eventually death. Fascinating... even on the molecular level, zombies want to eat your brains. O_o So, how does infection occur? Rarely, it is caused by a genetic defect that triggers the development of prions in the body. Unfortunately, research suggests that in the vast majority of cases, one becomes infected by eating infected meat (quite commonly beef). And now, we know that they have the ability to adapt to selective pressures... Making a case for vegetarianism?  - Nathan P.S. Naw, meat is still too delicious for me to give up.  P.P.S. Bonus nerd points if you can identify the reference I threw in the poll... |
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