By now most people have heard of mad-cow disease and of the devastation it has brought to the cattle industry, especially in Europe. Scientists publishing in the online version of Nature Biotechnology report that they have created a genetically modified cow immune to the disease.

Mad-cow disease is a prion disease, which is both a fascinating and terrible class of neurological diseases. Prions are infectious proteins – a startling and controversial notion when first proposed, that a protein itself could be infectious. They are one of several brain proteins that can be made to fold in an alternate configuration. Proteins get their biochemical properties not only from their sequence of amino acids but also from the three-dimensional configuration into which they fold up. When prion proteins fold one way they function normally (they are mostly structural proteins, some of which may be involved in long term memory). When they fold a different way, however, they compromise the structure of the brain cells causing them to degenerate.
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Continuing the tradition of former Star Trek stars appearing in science (or pseudoscience) related programs, Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard from The Next Generation) is starring in a new BBC drama called The Eleventh Hour. He plays Professor Ian Hood, a Sherlockian character whose job is to investigate and head off potential disasters caused by modern technology.

I’m glad to see the increase in such programming – mainstream dramas featuring protagonists who are decidedly scientific and even skeptical. My favorite such character is Gil Grissom from CSI, but others come to mind, including Dr. House.
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In the realm of science, conflict is good.

True scientific controversies, especially those that capture the public’s attention, represent science at its best. At the heart of all such controversies is a scientific mystery. Two or more sides support different hypotheses – different ways to interpret the existing evidence. Each side probes for weaknesses, not only in their opponents’ hypotheses but in their own. New experiments or observations are proposed to settle the debate, and eventually questions are answered, vagaries are clarified, and missing pieces are filled in. Often, the result is a consensus, with a clear winner. Just as often, new questions and controversies spring from the answers to the old ones, and the cycle repeats itself. It is a spectacle of ideas, logic, evidence, and scientific methodology – and an incredible opportunity to educate the public about science.

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