PROTEINS
<p class="default">10:39 AM, November 13, 2006 
 
Fiendishly intricate, protein folding is crucial to the chemistry of life. Each of the body's 20 amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, is attracted or repulsed by water; it's largely these affinities that drive the contorting of proteins into distinctive three-dimensional shapes within the watery confines of a cell. The split-second folding of gangly protein chains into tight three-dimensional shapes has broad implications for the growing number of disorders believed to result from misfolded proteins or parts of proteins, most notably neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. 
 
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