Something to make you think about "life"

[Amphiprion]

I had known for a few years now about research that could potentially change ideas about life or at least define something a little better. There are three new interesting groups of things, none of which are consider organisms, but still seem life-like: Nanobacteria, nanobes, and prions. The first two are cool, but the third is by far the weirdest (you may better recognize it as the cause of mad cow disease.
Here are some Wikipedia links (and they have more links on their pages) that discuss them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanobes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanobacteria

These are very new studies, so nothing is in stone yet. There are even errors on the site, namely on prions. Unlike what the site says,1) they are not linked to parkinsons or alzheimers because these diseases aren't infectious 2)Every organisms possess prion proteins--it is just a pathogenic isoform that causes problems. Anyway, I thought I would throw this out there to share, simply because I found it fascinating and I know many of us think alike, so enjoy.

[titansgurl]

I've always been fascinated by these subjects. As a matter of fact, infectious diseases fascinate me the most. Call me weird. My dream job is to work for the CDC.

[steveanddanni]

Me too. Microbiology and infectious diseases was one of my most favorite classes at South.

Steve

[titansgurl]

I just got my BS in Microbiology!

[mykpoz]

what about nanotubes ;P


they are neat to read about too...