Alzheimer's

Teresa Valko and her mother, Evelyn Wilson, in 2011.

Health & Safety

Conversations Turn Into Monologues As Alzheimer's Robs Family Of Memories

5:48am November 13, 2015

by NPR Staff

Teresa Valko's family has been battling Alzheimer's disease for generations. She remembers when her mother's memory faded: "I've essentially lost my mother, although she's still living," Valko says.

The experiment used a fake photo of actor Clint Eastwood and Pisa's leaning tower to test how the brain links person and place.

How Your Brain Remembers Where You Parked The Car

2:28pm August 18, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

When people saw photos that linked a famous person with a famous place, it changed the behavior of certain neurons in their brains. And it changed their memories, too.

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A New York study found that getting medical students together with dementia patients and their families at museums to view, discuss and create art for 90 minutes made the students better communicators.

Sharing Art Helps Medical Students Connect With Dementia Patients

8:17pm August 05, 2015

by Ina Yang

It's easy to spot what Alzheimer's patients have lost — memory, communication skills and more. But a study that sent medical students and dementia patients to art classes opened new vistas for all.

Despite losing his sense of taste and smell to Alzheimer's disease, Greg O'Brien says grilling supper on the back deck with his son on a summer evening is still fun.

When Alzheimer's Steals Your Appetite, Remember To Laugh

5:59pm July 25, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

Fresh grilled swordfish now tastes like rolled newspapers to Greg O'Brien, an unexpected effect of his Alzheimer's. And shopping without a grocery list is futile. But summer barbecues are still sweet.

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Giedre (left) and Tal Cohen in March 2013, while Giedre was still healthy. Since then, she's begun having symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. In Giedre's case, the illness is tied to a rare genetic mutation she inherited.

Younger Adults With Alzheimer's Are Key To Drug Search

4:42pm July 23, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

A very rare genetic mutation causes some people to develop Alzheimer's in their 30s. It also makes these people the ideal candidates for tests of potential Alzheimer's drugs.

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In this colorized image of a brain cell from a person with Alzheimer's, the red tangle in the yellow cell body is a toxic tangle of misfolded "tau" proteins, adjacent to the cell's green nucleus.

Alzheimer's Drugs In The Works Might Treat Other Diseases, Too

10:28am July 22, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

By targeting the process that creates toxic clumps of protein in brain cells, scientists hope to help not just Alzheimer's patients, but perhaps also people with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's.

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Greg O'Brien and his wife are finding it more difficult to drive to and from their family's secluded house on Cape Cod. As they move out and move on, O'Brien has discovered a bittersweet trove of memories.

When Losing Memory Means Losing Home

6:33pm July 18, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

As his Alzheimer's progresses, journalist Greg O'Brien and his wife have decided it's time to leave the home where they raised their three kids. The move is turning up some sweet discoveries.

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Seeing What Isn't There: Inside Alzheimer's Hallucinations

4:57pm June 01, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

Sometimes Greg O'Brien gets a tingling in the back of his brain that tells him a hallucination is coming. Lions. Spiders. Birds. Sometimes the creatures are friendly. Too often, they're not.

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The Allen Institute for Brain Science hosted its first BigNeuron Hackathon in Beijing earlier this month. Similar events are planned for the U.S. and U.K.

Hackers Teach Computers To Tell Healthy And Sick Brain Cells Apart

11:17am April 08, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists are still better than computers at assessing a neuron's health by looking at its shape. But an effort that includes an international series of hackathons could help speed the process.

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When combined with results of other neurological tests, and in the context of a thorough medical history, atrophy of the brain (shown here in an MRI scan) sometimes indicates Alzheimer's.

Many Doctors Who Diagnose Alzheimer's Fail To Tell The Patient

7:58pm April 01, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Only about half of Medicare patients are told of the diagnosis by their doctor, a study finds. That compares to 90 percent of patients diagnosed with cancer.

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