I’ve not heard about them much until recently, where i keep seeing mention of them, what exactly are they?
In: Biology
They are scary because they aren’t alive. Prions are just a protein.
We can kill bacteria (and viruses, despite not technically being alive), but how do you kill a protein?
We kill viruses and bacteria by breaking apart the pieces that hold them together. Basically ripping them apart through chemical processes, but those are separating molecules from each other, not breaking down those molecules. We can also kill them with heat, causing their protiens to misfold so the whole can’t function, and then by the time the temperatures return to normal, the bacteria or virus has died.
Prions are a misfolded protein that grabs other protiens and misfolds them. Heat could delay them, but when the temperature returns to normal, the protiens will retake their shape and continue their destruction. The heat would do more damage to the host body than it would the prion.
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