The "brave new world" of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (infectious cerebral amyloidosis).

The story of transmissible human spongiform encephalopathy, from its origins to the present time, enjoys the commentary of a cast of characters from Shakespeare's imaginary island in The Tempest, with a brief visit to the real island of Tasmania for a bird's eye view of the prion, and some concluding thoughts about the current state of research in the netherworlds of molecular biology and physical chemistry.