• hotspur@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    I can’t find the specific article, but it was basically arguing that prions are an unavoidable existential crisis that will eventually kill everything on the planet. The basis was the fact that they are virtually indestructible, can lie latent in our environment indefinitely and basically just always make more of themselves.

    Mind you, the time frame for this particular apocalypse would be pretty big. It was still an eerie thought though, just like this inexorable accumulation of alien/bizarro world proteins that would eventually kill/convert everything. I guess it’s kinda like the grey goo planet theory.

    Anyway, we’ll almost certainly kill ourselves via climate change or massive war first, so no need to worry too much about prions.

      • hotspur@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Oh and I guess, potentially, the post about Micheal j fox could also be about prions, since it’s suggesting his Parkinson’s is the result of accidental ingestion of human remains (probably brain matter, like the how the kuru disease was spread). So maybe we’re up to 3 posts for prions!

        • livus@kbin.social
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          7 months ago

          Yikes I’m glad I don’t believe in argumentum ad popularum or at this point it would be prion apocalypse confirmed!

      • hotspur@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Haha I just saw that—excellent. Prions definitely belong to the creepy/weird category of potential threats.