New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's From Physics
Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.
The same process that causes dew drops to form on a blade of grass appears to play an important role in Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
The process, known as phase transition, is what allows water vapor to condense into liquid water, or even freeze into solid ice. That same sort of process allows brain cells to constantly reorganize their inner machinery.
But in degenerative diseases that includ , , and Alzheimer's, the phase transitions inside seem to go, a neurogeneticist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
