Proteins are the building blocks of life. Our bodies make about 25-thousand of them.  Dr Ann McDermott, a biophysicist from Columbia University, studies the shapes of perteins as they clump into structures called amyloids.  Sometimes these amyloids stick to one another, forming amyloid plaques that can lead to diseases like Alzheimer's.  But Dr. McDermott and her colleagues are also looking at good amyloids that could lead science to develop new treatments for disease. She spoke at one of the "Town Talks" presented by Telluride Science. Veteran broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller moderated.