The anatomy of prion disease: “In the novel Cat’s Cradle, an eccentric scientist develops a substance called Ice-9 that crystallizes every drop of water it touches. Eventually, it freezes the world’s oceans.

Now, 40 years after writer Kurt Vonnegut imagined Ice-9, researchers think his creation is the perfect analogy for the renegade proteins that destroy the brains of people infected by the human form of mad-cow disease.

Once prion diseases infect a body, the proteins change shape and, with a kiss of death, turn their neighbors into clones of themselves. Clumps of misshapen proteins form, overwhelming neurons and poking holes in the brain. Death is inevitable.” — Wired