November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. At Posit Science, we support every effort to put Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in the spotlight—to remind all of us just how much these debilitating conditions affect both patients and caregivers alike, and to prioritize finding effective treatments.
Here in the U.S., more than 6 million people have Alzheimer’s, and more than 11 million people provide care for someone with Alzheimer’s. The numbers worldwide are, of course, far higher—most estimates are that about 50 million people around the world have Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
This Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, I’d like to thank everyone who is on the frontlines of Alzheimer’s—the caregivers, medical professionals, and researchers—for doing their best to help those with Alzheimer’s and find ways to improve outcomes. |
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 Thank you for all you do, Jeff Zimman
Co-founder
Posit Science |
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| | | Why We’re Taller Than in Centuries Past Throughout most of the world, the average person is taller than they were a century or so ago. In some countries, they are up to 7.8 inches taller. Most people understand that this growth can be attributed to better nutrition. But how, exactly, does nutrition help the body grow? New research shows the answer lies in a brain receptor called MC3R. Find out more. |
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How London Cabbies Are Helping Alzheimer’s Researchers Becoming an official London cabbie is no small feat. To earn their “green badge,” they have to pass a difficult and comprehensive test of London’s 26,000 streets and the routes between them—which typically takes at least three years to complete. This intense study changes their brains: studies show that the hippocampus (a brain region closely associated with memory) of the average cabbie is significantly larger than in other people. That same brain region shrinks in people with Alzheimer’s. Now, researchers are now looking more deeply into the brains of London cabbies, with the hope of using their findings to improve early detection of Alzheimer’s. Learn more. |
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The Brain on Menopause Dr. Lisa Marconi, a respected expert in the fields of women’s health and aging, has led numerous research studies about menopause and how it affects women’s brains. She has shown that estrogen is not just a reproductive hormone, but a very important player in the female brain. According to Dr. Mosconi, estrogen encourages plasticity and keeps the brain healthier—but with age, estrogen declines, and with it, cognitive and brain health. Learn more. |
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Memory in Music A wonderful study out of the University of Toronto has shown that listening to music that holds a special meaning for a person can strengthen cognitive function in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. Repeatedly listening to that music changed neural pathways in the study participants in ways that improved memory performance. Learn more. |
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Brain “Fingerprints” Just as every person has unique fingerprints, they also have a unique brain map that can be used to identify them. Using scanning technology, scientists can read a person’s brain “fingerprint” in less than two minutes. But brain fingerprints can change if someone develops a neurological condition, such as Alzheimer’s. Scientists hope reading brain fingerprints will help them better understand these types of conditions. Learn more. |
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Being You: A New Science of Consciousness
Anil Seth (2021)
In this fascinating new work, neuroscientist Anil Seth explores the answer to an age-old question: what creates consciousness, your awareness of yourself and the world around you? Delving into a host of competing theories, Seth ultimately argues that “[w]e perceive the world not as it is, but as it is useful to us”—that we actually live in a “controlled hallucination” that results from our brain's best guesses of what is happening, rather than an objective reality. Learn more. |
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