Alzheimer's Disease Research

This is an exciting time in the neuroscience research community. Scientists are making breakthroughs in our understanding of the brain and diseases that afflict it. One article from Nature (Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline by Bishop et al) claims nearly 50% of people age 85 and above are afflicted by Alzheimer's disease and that cognitive decline is one of the greatest health threats in old age. The positive aspect is that through more comprehensive understanding of the disease and the brain, scientists have developed more sophisticated methods for detecting the disease and mitigating its effects. One recent paper, Sensory Network Dysfunction, Behavioral Impairments, and Their Reversibility in an Alzheimer's β-Amyloidosis Mouse Model, found a hyperactive sense of smell preceded a loss of the sense that sometimes comes with Alzheimer's. The research is still at a very preliminary stage, but the odds of developing more methods for dealing with Alzheimer's is getting better.