|
Dear Judith,
you asked the 5 c Christmas questions. I think
~30,000+++ of the world's foremost biologists, genticists, pharmac(olog)ists,
chemists,
medics, physiologists and even normal smart
people would like to have those answers, many thousands are even working on it -
some even very well paid.
A mad cow can startle many smart
people.
Why am I joking about such tragic topics? First:
I am joking about everything, it keeps the mind creatively working. My wife
always warns about keeping selective in it, because many people cannot cope with
flippancy when they want to be pretentious. Here I have a non-flippant reason
for some humor:
The prions (you got that absolutely right with
all its connotations) are the latest marvels what science could "think" about.
Nothing essential, beyond a superficial identification. I think the most weird
point is what you wrote: that the immune system disregards them - considering
that it is "protein-stuff" from a system different from the one which an immune
system is supposed to protect. The second: that they pass the digestive attacks
fully functional. Some materials do, but very few retain all details in their
structure while passing the stomach-purge. (cf enterosolvent coatings, etc.) I
assign the passage through intestinal selections both to their size and
built, so close to the 'partially' (more or less) digested other food stuf. Then
they get to the sites where the adversive effect can be exercised - and do it.
(I wonder if there were synthetic mad-cow prions prepared and inserted into
experimental animals? There are so many chances - even in simple protein
chemistry - that it may fail).
Does it really pass genetically? has it been
excluded that e.g. the infected milk transferred the infection into the calves
from infected mothers? If genetically, which way: through feeding channels into
the fetus, or by sperm-egg content of parents, to begin with?
My reply to the problem is unfortunate: in spite
of the importance of the problem and the lots of talks about it, we have no
"real" knowledge about these (an many other) proceedings in the real complexity
called globalizing: life. We know precious little about viruses and even less
about prions, we still assign a considerable portion of the genetic material
"garbage" and have no idea how mental processes (or even a disposition for
a selective outcome) can be transferred "genetically" (memes?) -
if...
We cannot perfom 15 experiments in the lab, feed
500 lines of statistics into computers and solve the ignorance about the 'life'
process (whatever it is). There are things beyond that selective and limited
model we (science) carry about it and science is jealous to exclude every facet
so far not included.
They really behave like a mad cow.
Happy New Year
John Mikes
|