Hope in the fight against deadly prion diseases, and side effects of organic agriculture

New clinical trials for treatments of an always fatal brain disease, and what happens with pests when a conventional and organic farm are neighbors

First up on this week’s show, a new treatment to stave off prion disease goes into clinical trials. Prions are misfolded proteins that clump together and chew holes in the brain. The misfolding can be switched on in a number of ways—including infection with a misfolded prion protein from an animal or person. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman talks with host Sarah Crespi about new potential treatments—from antisense nucleotides to small molecules that interfere with protein production—for these fatal neurodegenerative diseases.

Next on the show: Freelance producer Katherine Irving talks with Ashley Larsen, associate professor of agricultural and landscape ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, about the effects of organic farms on their neighbors. If there are lots of organic growers together, pesticide use goes down but conventional farms tend to use more pesticides when side by side with organic farms.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Katherine Irving; Meredith Wadman

LINKS FOR MP3 META

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.z91m76v