Did anyone see the special on the History Channel on prion diseases?

One scientist said that these various diseases have been around as long as mammals have.

They also say that "KURU" has an incubation period of up to 40 years.

Another interesting topic was that archeological digs have given evidence of cannabalism in the Neanderthals. They suspect that the eating of their enemies spread prion diseases amongst them and might have led to or be the reason of their demise.