When people ate people, a strange disease emerged (2016)
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2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
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HN comment orderI did a bunch of research (googling) back in the late 90's or 2000s when the mad cow disease outbreak first happened mainly in England. I thought it was pretty terrifying and I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I read about Kuru all the way back then and the take away was that people shouldn't eat the brain and nervous tissue of other people or Kuru could result. But also it seemed that mad cow disease…
I'm curious, if it's a "misfolding protein" (my knowledge of biology is not sufficient to know what "misfolding" means here, I understand that proteins fold, but "misfolding" is a mystery to me), then what is the reproducing mechanism? My understanding is that viruses reproduce themselves by hijacking the DNA (or RNA?) in cells. DNA being a cell reproduction mechanism that copies protein structures. But what is it about a particular protein that can make itself reproduce and infect the body?
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 489
- Total comments
- 305
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-09-07 | When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged | exolymph | 1 | 0 |
| 2017-04-10 | When People Ate People, a Strange Disease EmergedFirst breakout · Best thread | lentil_soup | 343 | 210 |
| 2020-03-23 | When People Ate People, a Strange Disease Emerged (2016) | EndXA | 1 | 0 |
| 2021-05-09 | When people ate people, a strange disease emerged (2016)Latest 20+ point return | ekianjo | 144 | 95 |