Space dogs

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

[Trivial]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

Prions are another I would think.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

Prions are another I would think.

Not exactly, because they don't "replicate" per se, but rather are a contagious form of misfolding protein that nobody really understands. They're like the shitty memes of the protein world.

[Trivial]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

Prions are another I would think.

Not exactly, because they don't "replicate" per se, but rather are a contagious form of misfolding protein that nobody really understands. They're like the shitty memes of the protein world.

Do they work like ice 9?  I can't think of something normal to conceptualise. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

Prions are another I would think.

Not exactly, because they don't "replicate" per se, but rather are a contagious form of misfolding protein that nobody really understands. They're like the shitty memes of the protein world.

Do they work like ice 9?  I can't think of something normal to conceptualise.

I'm not sure how ice 9 is supposed to work in the book, I don't recall it being heavy on technical details. Prions seem to act like a template that induces normal proteins in contact with the prion protein to re-fold into a nonfunctional form.

https://hegemony.wordpress.com/2006/11/21/how-do-prions-work/

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Viruses have DNA, but they lack the replicative machinery with which to duplicate or transcribe it. That's why they hijack the cellular machinery of other organisms. One hypothesis about viruses is that they were originally parasitic organisms that gradually jettisoned their own cellular machinery. Prions, on the other hand, have no DNA at all, and simply seem to have a contact effect of inducing other proteins to misfold.

[Trivial]

Self-replicating is the current sticking point for most definitions of life, and is the reason viruses, which very nearly qualify as "alive", are in a gray area.

Prions are another I would think.

Not exactly, because they don't "replicate" per se, but rather are a contagious form of misfolding protein that nobody really understands. They're like the shitty memes of the protein world.

Do they work like ice 9?  I can't think of something normal to conceptualise.

I'm not sure how ice 9 is supposed to work in the book, I don't recall it being heavy on technical details. Prions seem to act like a template that induces normal proteins in contact with the prion protein to re-fold into a nonfunctional form.

https://hegemony.wordpress.com/2006/11/21/how-do-prions-work/

Ice 9 made water crystallize at room temp because it was a more stable configuration.  Basically any water that touched it would become ice 9.

It wasn't more technical than that though.  Was just thinking of how a prion would turn any normal protein into a prion.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ice 9 made water crystallize at room temp because it was a more stable configuration.  Basically any water that touched it would become ice 9.

It wasn't more technical than that though.  Was just thinking of how a prion would turn any normal protein into a prion.

Yeah, that's what I remember of it. That's also about all we know about how prions work.

[LMNO]

Is it OK to say that prions kind of scare me?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Is it OK to say that prions kind of scare me?

They are scary as fuck, so I'm gonna go with not only OK, but eminently reasonable. Contagious proteins that shut down your brain are a legitimate thing to be freaked the fuck out about.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Okay so now I'm freaked the fuck out about this prions shit. I think we may owe it to the world to spread mass-panic

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Okay so now I'm freaked the fuck out about this prions shit. I think we may owe it to the world to spread mass-panic

Already happened; remember Mad Cow Disease?

[Trivial]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

So some people have genes that make these damn things. 

[P3nT4gR4m]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

So some people have genes that make these damn things. 

One word -  death camps

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

So some people have genes that make these damn things.

Yep. Horrible.