Fatal Flaws
How a Misfolded Protein Baffled Scientists and Changed the Way We Look at the Brain
1st Edition
Published on 11. August 2020
293 pages
978-0-300-19518-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the bestselling author of The Science of Why series, "a 'whodunit' about one of the most fascinating and improbable tales of medical discovery" (Jonathan A. Edlow, MD, author of
The Deadly Dinner Party
:
A
nd Other Medical Detective Stories).
Discovered and identified as the cause of mad cow disease only three decades ago, the prion is a protein molecule that, when misshapen in the brain, becomes fatal. Novel and controversial, prions have provoked a scientific revolution.They challenge the very foundations of biology:A disease-causing entity with no genetic material at all?A molecule capable of infecting, multiplying, and killing? This book recounts thebirth of prion science and the imaginative detective work scientists have undertakenas theystruggle to find the answers to devastating brain diseases from mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's, and others.
As in each of his bestselling books, Jay Ingram here makes complex scientific concepts accessible and shows how little-known events may have profound significance. He describes the development of prion science as a rough-and-tumble affair, with rivals, eccentrics, interfering governments, and brilliantly creative people all playing salient roles. Weaving biology, medicine, human tragedy, discovery, and bitter scientific competition into his account, he reveals the stunning potential of prion science, whose discoveries may unlock the answers to some of humankind's most destructive diseases.
"The way Ingram presents the ongoing search for answers surrounding BSE and associated neurological conditions makes for an excellent read."- Quill & Quire (starred review)
"Provides a fascinating insight into the twists and turns of this new science."-Lara V. Marks, author of Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill
Discovered and identified as the cause of mad cow disease only three decades ago, the prion is a protein molecule that, when misshapen in the brain, becomes fatal. Novel and controversial, prions have provoked a scientific revolution.They challenge the very foundations of biology:A disease-causing entity with no genetic material at all?A molecule capable of infecting, multiplying, and killing? This book recounts thebirth of prion science and the imaginative detective work scientists have undertakenas theystruggle to find the answers to devastating brain diseases from mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's, and others.
As in each of his bestselling books, Jay Ingram here makes complex scientific concepts accessible and shows how little-known events may have profound significance. He describes the development of prion science as a rough-and-tumble affair, with rivals, eccentrics, interfering governments, and brilliantly creative people all playing salient roles. Weaving biology, medicine, human tragedy, discovery, and bitter scientific competition into his account, he reveals the stunning potential of prion science, whose discoveries may unlock the answers to some of humankind's most destructive diseases.
"The way Ingram presents the ongoing search for answers surrounding BSE and associated neurological conditions makes for an excellent read."- Quill & Quire (starred review)
"Provides a fascinating insight into the twists and turns of this new science."-Lara V. Marks, author of Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill
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Jay Ingram
Fatal Flaws
How a Misfolded Protein Baffled Scientists and Changed the Way We Look at the Brain
Book
04/2013
Yale University Press
€63.14
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Person
Jay Ingram is an award-winning science author, writer, and broadcaster. He was co-host and producer of Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet from 1995 to 2011, and he is the author of eleven previous books. He lives in Alberta, Canada.
Content
- Cover
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The Mystery of Kuru: A Disease Like No Other
- 2. Barflies and Flatworms: How Speculation and Pure Chance Advance a New Science
- 3. Cannibalism: An Answer Guaranteed to Stir Things Up
- 4. Igor and Bill: The Discoveries That Bring Kuru to World Attention
- 5. The Life of a Cell: A Miraculous, and Often Precarious, Complexity
- 6. The Death of a Cell: By Subterfuge, Piracy or Out-and-Out Assault
- 7. When Is a Virus Not a Virus?: When a Disease-Causing Agent Reproduces Without Genes
- 8. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Waking Up to the Potential of a Devastating Affliction
- 9. Magnificent Molecules: The Proteins That Make Life Possible
- 10. Protein Origami: Building the Gothic Cathedrals of Life
- 11. Stanley Prusiner's Heresy: An Infectious Agent That's a Protein and Nothing But
- 12. An Infectious Idea: The Campaign for the Minds of Researchers
- 13. A Portrait of the Prion: And the Experiments That Point to Their Role in the Human Brain
- 14. Mad Cow Disease: The Uncertain Ground Where Politics and Science Intersect
- 15. Mad Cow in Humans: No Barrier After All
- 16. The Americas: Mad Mink, Then Cows
- 17. Into the Wild: Deer, Elk, Moose and Caribou
- 18. Origins: Attempting to Find Where Prions Come From
- 19. Cats but Not Dogs: When Prions Jump the Species Barrier
- 20. Alzheimer's Disease: Plaques and Tangles but So Far No Prions
- 21. Parkinson's Disease: Looking More and More Like a Prion Disease
- 22. Lou Gehrig's Disease: The Emerging Picture of a Prion-Like Process in ALS
- 23. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: The Athletes' Plague
- 24. And in the End . . .
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
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