Fresh ammo to kill rogue prions (New Scientist) A compound with an "unprecedented" ability to destroy the malformed prions is a ray of hope in the battle against diseases such as vCJD [News Source]

Should people be tested for mad cow disease? (New Scientist) Would you want to know if you were a carrier of vCJD - the human form of BSE - even though there is currently no cure? [News Source]

Preview: Max Brooks’ Festival Of The (Living) Dead! Barbican, London (Independent) As the author of The Zombie Survival Guide and the recent zombie-invasion novel World War Z, Max Brooks is the ideal person to answer the question of why the zombie genre is so popular. "The genre cannot exist outside of the apocalyptic," he says. "Since we are living in times of great uncertainty, zombies are a safe way of exploring our own anxiety about the end of the world." [News Source]

State hopes to keep Mad Deer Disease out (The Press-Enterprise) CHECKPOINT: Hunters must remove animals' spines and brains before returning to California. [News Source]