Scince journalists write about science for lay and non-specialist audiences. Their work is neither 'primary' research literature nor 'secondary' summary, but it can be very valuable in the early stages of discovery and exploration of a topic. Science and Nature have extensive news and perspectives sections, Scientific American and New Scientist articles are similarly aimed at non-specialist audiences, and many newspapers have Science sections (the New York Times Tuesday section is one of the most celebrated).

Lexis/Nexis offers full text of a large number of newspapers and a variety of magazines, including Science and The Lancet. The search/display interface is clumsy (not to say hostile), but well worth the trouble to become familiar with. The single most important tool for searching is the Lexis/Nexis Guide, available at the Leyburn Library Reference Desk.

A search for publication(science) and prion [which means: find me articles containing the word 'prion' or 'prions' in publications with the word science in their titles] yields this harvest: 

                              LEVEL 1 - 52 STORIES                           
1.   Japan Science Scan, October 21, 1996, 239 words, Japan researchers claim
breakthrough in mad cow disease, 3390333 ND

2.   Science News, October 12, 1996, Vol. 150 ; No. 15 ; Pg. 238; ISSN:
0036-8423, 1650 words, Of mad cows and Englishmen; telltale protein betrays
disease; new tests developed to diagnose mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease, Sternberg, Steve, IAC 18775964

3.   Science, October 4, 1996, Vol. 274 ; No. 5284 ; Pg. 99; ISSN: 0036-8075,
3188 words, Correlative memory deficits, A-beta elevation, and amyloid plaques
in transgenic mice., Hsiao, Karen ; Chapman, Paul ; Nilsen, Steven ; Eckman,
Chris ; Harigaya, Yasuo ; Younkin, Steven ; Yang, Fusheng ; Cole, Greg, IAC
18781874

4.  Science, August 23, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5278 ; Pg. 1052; ISSN:
0036-8075, 813 words, Prion Diseases._book reviews, Gambetti, Pierluigi,
IAC 18662449

5.   Science, August 9, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5276 ; Pg. 746; ISSN: 0036-8075,
2590 words, The public risk of animal organ and tissue transplantation into
humans.Policy Forum, Murphy, Frederick A., IAC 18607512

6.   Science, August 2, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5275 ; Pg. 580; ISSN: 0036-8075,
687 words, Yeast prions: DNA-free genetics?, Vogel, Gretchen, IAC 18599658

7.   Science, August 2, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5275 ; Pg. 622; ISSN: 0036-8075,
4047 words, Support for the prion hypothesis for inheritance of a phenotype
trait in yeast., Patino, Maria M. ; Liu, Jia-Jia ; Glover, John ; Lindquist,
Susan, IAC 18599672

8.   Science, July 12, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5272 ; Pg. 184; ISSN: 0036-8075,
5165 words, Putting prions to the test; proteinaceous infectious particles,
infectious proteins; includes related article on neurologist Stanley Prusiner,
Mestel, Rosie, IAC 18500947

9.   Science, July 12, 1996, Vol. 273 ; No. 5272 ; Pg. 186; ISSN: 0036-8075,
1008 words, Flipping yeast; malformed proteins, prions, Mestel, Rosie, IAC
18500948

10.  Science News, April 13, 1996, Vol. 149 ; No. 15 ; Pg. 228; ISSN:
0036-8423 919 words, Human version of Mad Cow disease? Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease, Sternberg, Steve, IAC 18205249

11.  Science, March 29, 1996, Vol. 271 ; No. 5257 ; Pg. 1798; ISSN:
0036-8075, 790 words, Scant data cause widespread concern.Mad Cow Disease,
O'Brien, Claire, IAC 18184269

12.  Science, March 15, 1996, Vol. 271 ; No. 5255 ; Pg. 1493; ISSN:
0036-8075, 3246 words, Misfolding the way to disease; amyloid diseases
such as Alzheimer's may result when proteins fold up incorrectly, causing
them to aggregate and deposit abnormally in or around cells., Taubes,
Gary, IAC 18163092

13.   Science, October 6, 1995, Vol. 270 ; No. 5233 ; Pg. 93; ISSN: 0036-8075,
2818 words, Prion-inducing domain of yeast Ure2p and protease resistance of
Ure2p in prion-containing cells., Masison, Daniel C. ; wickner, Reed B., IAC
17473922

14.  Science News, August 26, 1995, Vol. 148 ; No. 9 ; Pg. 133; ISSN:
0036-8423 499 words, Certain seabirds drawn by the smell of food;
researchers discover prions, white-chinned petrels and other birds respond
to the smell of dimethyl sulfide released by zooplankton; Brief Article,
Adler, Tina, IAC 17288637

15.   Japan Science Scan, August 7, 1995, 303 words, Scientists say rare
neurological disease is infectious, 2867496 ND

16.   Science, June 23, 1995, Vol. 268 ; No. 5218 ; Pg. 1712; ISSN: 0036-8075,
3750 words, Dispute slows paper on "remarkable" vaccine; vaccine against
Cryptococcus neoformans; includes related articles; Conduct in Science,
Marshall, Eliot, IAC 17200566

17.  Science News, June 17, 1995, Vol. 147 ; No. 24 ; Pg. 383; ISSN:
0036-8423, 331 words, Another round in the prion debate; research supports
idea that viruses not prions are the infectious agents that cause
neurodegenerative disorders such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease; Brief
Article, IAC 17128750

18.   Science, May 12, 1995, Vol. 268 ; No. 5212 ; Pg. 880; ISSN: 0036-8075,
3468 words, Role of the chaperone protein Hsp 104 in propagation of the yeast
prion-like factor psi+., Chernoff, Yury O. ; Lindquist, Susan L. ; Ono,
Bun-ichiro ; Inge-Vechtomov, Sergei G. ; Liebman, Susan W., IAC 16932657

19.   Science News, December 24, 1994, Vol. 146 ; No. 26-27 ; Pg. 434; ISSN:
0036-8423, 5394 words, Science news of the year; review of major 1994 research
findings, Young, Patrick, IAC 16280957

20.  Science News, September 24, 1994, Vol. 146 ; No. 13 ; Pg. 202; ISSN:
0036-8423, 2210 words, Prying into prions; a twisted tail of an ordinary
protein causing extraordinary neurological disorders; Cover Story,
Pennisi, Elizabeth,

(etc.)