Prions Observed Jumping Species Barrier (Slashdot) palegray.net writes "Nature is reporting on new findings that prions jump species barriers. Believed to be responsible for ailments such as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and 'mad cow' disease, prions are thought to disrupt biological processes by causing normal proteins to fold abnormally. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston have observed infectious prions from hamsters ... [News Source]

Urban agriculture - gardening for food. A North Vancouver resident is experimenting with the outer boundaries of urban agriculture: seeing what flourishes, what dies, and how far one urban farmer can possibly get from the supermarket. [News Source]

Mad cow lawsuit clomps on (C-Health) Ontario cattle farmers have never fully recovered from the financial blow struck by the first case of mad cow disease five years ago and live with the worry their livelihoods could be flattened again, an industry spokesperson says. [News Source]

Clue may lead to Mad Cow test (Newsday) Canadian scientists have discovered a way to detect mad cow disease in urine, a finding that could lead to the first test for the infection in live animals. [News Source]

Clue may lead to Mad Cow test (AM New York) Canadian scientists have discovered a way to detect mad cow disease in urine, a finding that could lead to the first test for the infection in live animals. [News Source]