scishark

Mad cow disease (also known as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy [bSE]) is a neurodegenerative, fatal affliction of cows. It’s caused by prions, which are proteins that are normally present in cows, but they have been mis-folded. Think of a paper clip as a prion, and its unwound form as a straight strip of metal is the original protein. The mishapen prions can also induce other normal proteins around them to become prions. Prions are not alive – they are errant proteins produced in an animal, much like cancer cells are regular human cells gone wrong. http://www.interestingscience.net/madcow/ Seems like mad cow is going to stay for a while