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Some Prions May Be Helpful

Posted by timothy on from the and-tasty dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sciencentral has an article saying that many prions, far from causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease are actually responsible for long-term memory storage."

2 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Re:You learn something every day... by azav · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Looking for a human reason as to why a slug is, might be the wrong approach. Biological system development often acts like multiple programmable field gate arrays. What ends ends up working is what works and is what is passed on.

    There is no human defined reason behind why it is. The system was not designed, it evolved.

    --
    - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  2. Re:You learn something every day... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Insightful!? The reason why is because evolution made it that way is Insightful!? It is because it is adds nothing to the subject.

    You failed to understand the question. Humans aren't defining the reason why. Tango42 wants to know if a human has discovered the reason behind why it is. Or more succinctly, why did slugs evolve big neurons?

    dpbsmith responded to this by describing the suspected environmental pressures that favored the selection of large axon diameters in molluscs. Now that is insightful.