Alzheimer’s

Two years ago, immunologist and medical-publishing entrepreneur Leslie Norins offered to award US$1 million of his own money to any scientist who could prove that Alzheimer’s disease was caused by a germ. The theory that an infection might cause this form of dementia has been rumbling for decades on the fringes of neuroscience research. The…

Unlike diseases that impair the body in a myriad of physical ways, dementia can rob mental faculties and identity, as patients struggle to remember memories from previous days. As the disease progresses, victims may also forget friends or relatives and the functional skills to perform a daily routine. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s…