Family members often provide caregiving for people with dementia and it can take a financial and emotional toll. Ocskaymark/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
Alzheimer's Alzheimer's
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Alzheimer's
This image provided by Eli Lilly shows the company's new Alzheimer’s drug Kisunla. The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s Kisunla on Tuesday for mild or early cases of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. Eli Lilly and Company/AP hide caption
New insights into the brain's waste-removal system could one day help researchers better understand and prevent many brain disorders. Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images hide caption
The brain has a waste removal system and scientists are figuring out how it works
An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the federal agency approve Alzheimer's drug donanemab. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption
Both President Biden and former President Donald Trump have made public gaffes on the campaign trail. Experts say such slips, on their own, are not cause for concern. Morry Gash/Pool/Getty Images hide caption
Recent gaffes by Biden and Trump may be signs of normal aging — or may be nothing
Newer blood tests can help doctors diagnose Alzheimer's disease without a brain scan or spinal tap. But some tests are more accurate than others. Tek Image/Science Photo Library/Getty Images hide caption
Blood tests can help diagnose Alzheimer's — if they're accurate enough. Not all are
Scientists have built an enormous atlas of the human brain that could help them chart a path toward preventing and treating many different neurological disorders. imaginima/Getty images hide caption
This largest-ever map of the human brain could change how we study it
Joyce Mutisya, 71, outside her home in Wote, Kenya. For years she's struggled with symptoms of dementia. But she didn't realize it was a condition for which she could seek professional help. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
Scientists have built an enormous atlas of the human brain that could help them chart a path toward preventing and treating many different neurological disorders. Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images hide caption
Scientists built the largest-ever map of the human brain. Here's what they found
A precisely timed pulse to a brain area just behind the ear can help reduce memory deficits in patients suffering moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries. Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop hide caption
When a brain injury impairs memory, a pulse of electricity may help
John Shambroom and Loose Ends volunteer Jan Rohwetter examine the rug Shambroom's wife, Donna Savastio, couldn't finish due to symptoms of Alzheimer's. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
A large study of an experimental Alzheimer's drug made by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. appears to slow worsening of the degenerative brain disease. Darron Cummings/AP hide caption
An experimental Alzheimer's drug outperforms one just approved by the FDA
The Food and Drug Administration has fully approved Leqembi, the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer's disease. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption
Alzheimer's drug Leqembi gets full FDA approval. Medicare coverage will likely follow
In Huntington's disease, proteins form toxic clumps that kill brain cells. Stowers Institute for Medical Research hide caption
Huntington's spreads like 'fire in the brain.' Scientists say they've found the spark
A new study finds that stimulating the brain during sleep can improve memory. DrAfter123/Getty Images hide caption
Scientists zap sleeping humans' brains with electricity to improve their memory
Jonnie Lewis-Thorpe, now 83, (right) lives with her daughter Angela Reynolds. She has Alzheimer's and lost her home due to symptoms of the disease. Katie Blackley/WESA hide caption
The sign for Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center is seen on Google Earth. The facility pronounced a living woman dead and is being fined $10,000. Google Earth/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
Audrey Grinker receives a visit from her doctor after friends found her on the floor of her apartment, she had mixed up her medications and became very ill. She was acting out in the hospital, trying to escape, sitting on the floor near the nurses' station, and walking into other patient's rooms. Aventura Hospital, Miami, Fla., March, 2017. Lori Grinker hide caption
This illustration made available by the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health depicts cells in an Alzheimer's-affected brain. An experimental drug modestly slowed the brain disease's progression, researchers reported Tuesday. NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING, NIH/AP hide caption
A doctor points to PET scan results that are part of Alzheimer's disease research. Much work in the field focuses a substance called beta-amyloid. A new study could test whether that's the right target. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
What causes Alzheimer's? Study puts leading theory to 'ultimate test'
Karen Douthitt (left) found she does not carry the rare genetic mutation for early-onset Alzheimer's dementia, but her older sister June Ward (right) does carry it. Juan Diego Reyes for NPR hide caption
Even though the sisters hope a successful drug treatment for their family's form of dementia will emerge, they're now planning for a future without one. "There's a kind of sorrow about Alzheimer's disease that, as strange as it seems, there's a comfort in being in the presence of people who understand it," Ward says. Juan Diego Reyes for NPR hide caption
With early Alzheimer's in the family, these sisters decided to test for the gene
The memory of aging mice improved when they received a substance found in the spinal fluid of young animals. Robert F. Bukaty/AP hide caption
