Feature Health & Medicine

Memories Can’t Wait

Researchers rethink the role of amyloid in causing Alzheimer’s

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

The polite term for what Alzheimer’s disease does to the brain is “neurodegeneration.”

Differences in a healthy brain (top) and a diseased one (bottom) clearly show the damage wrought by Alzheimer’s. © Maggie Steber/National Geographic Society, Corbis

ALZHEIMER’S BOOM As the baby boomers age, the number of elderly Americans with Alzheimer’s is projected to reach 13.5