Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) sounds mysterious on its own, but its pathology is even more baffling. Also known as Mad Cow Disease, CJD is part of a larger group of disease called tranmissible spongiform encephalopathies that arise through the action of prions.

What on earth does all that mean? We'll dive into in this week's episode as we explore one of the more fascinating and devastating classes of diseases that we know.

Artwork this week by Dr. Amesh Adalja in an article claiming prions as the real brain eaters, not zombies. Duh. (http://www.trackingzebra.com/new-blog/2015/9/3/prions-not-zombies-are-the-real-brain-eaters)