How ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) might work, and what scientists are learning about it

Interface device implanted into ALS patients restored some of their abilities

Most people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, require assistance with daily life due to loss of motor control. The electrode-coated, stent-like device used motor mapping data and machine learning to translate brain activity into actions.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to a health condition

Gehrig's diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that now bears his name, forced him to retire early. Weeks later, he spoke with gratitude and stated, "For the past two weeks, you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Gehrig died at the age of 37, about two years later.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

"Plaques" and "tangles" are top potential causes of Alzheimer's—but questions remain

The exact causes of Alzheimer's—and how to treat it—continue to be the subject of intense research. Two leading factors are amyloid beta plaques and tau protein tangles, which effectively pile up in the brain and interfere with neurons and cause cell death, which manifests as memory loss and other symptoms.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Aging is a complex biological process affecting our cells, tissues, and organs

With each passing decade, researchers uncover additional causes and effects of this seemingly unstoppable process. This visually stimulating video dives into our current understanding of aging, complete with the biological hallmarks researchers use to study aging at the cellular level (biological age).

One of the leading theories behind muscle movement

According to the Sliding Filament Theory, skeletal muscle contraction is made possible by sarcomeres, which are made of bundles of myosin and actin proteins inside muscle cells. Myosin pulls itself along actin to contract a muscle, shortening the muscle and its cells and enabling physical movement. It then releases its grasp on actin so it can start the process over again if so commanded.

The disease no one survives (yet)

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is currently incurable and can cause one's death within months of symptoms appearing. It involves misfolded proteins that, for some reason yet unknown to science, aren't cleared by the brain as typical and instead trigger similar proteins to misfold. These malformed major prion proteins—prion being a portmanteau of protein and infection—clump inside nerve cells, blocking signals crucial to processes ranging from speaking to organ function.

Sclerosis is the technical term for the lesions or plaques that form without myelin

In the absence of myelin, the body forms scar tissue called sclerosis. That scar tissue hampers nerve's abilities to transmit nerve impulses, essentially acting as a roadblock to speedy communication.

Rodent evidence is mounting that dysfunctional mitochondria may be a cause of Parkinson's

Though researchers have long observed mitochondrial malfunction in Parkinson's patients, it has remained unclear whether faulty mitochondria cause the disease or are casualties of it. Rodent research published in 2025 adds further weight to the idea that it's causative.

Scientists are studying dying patients' brain activity in the final moments of life

In the final moments of life there are distinctive bursts of coordinated neural activity. Researchers are interested in parsing that data to better understand the dying process and also exploring how this data relates to our understanding of consciousness.

Bill Nye did not have children for fear of passing on ataxia

In his 2017 documentary, Nye revealed the congenital, neurological condition on his father's side of the family, which is characterized by a lack of balance and problems with fine motor movement. He has since learned he likely does not have the disease, though both his siblings have shown symptoms.

'Susan's Brain': what happens to the brain during addiction

This engaging animation from Harvard Online breaks down the neuroscience of addiction through the story of “Susan’s brain,” demonstrating how addictive substances hijack normal reward pathways. Through clear visual metaphors and approachable narration, it explains complex brain chemistry in understandable terms.

Limb regeneration research may lead to treatments for arthritis

For scientists pursuing the cure for arthritis, the holy grail of discoveries lies in how to regrow healthy cartilage inside human joints. While this feat has so far resisted our best scientific attempts, there are plenty of other human tissues—such as the liver and fingertips—that will successfully regenerate.

Anthropic's interpretability team discusses how AI models' thinking mimics biology

Just as humans engage in complex behaviors to survive and reproduce, teams of experts in neuroscience, virology, mathematics, and other disciplines argue that large language models develop complex mechanisms to achieve their goals. These mechanisms can be manipulated to assess how they modify outputs—much like stimulating individual neurons—to uncover how LLMs "think."

The neuroscience of REM atonia disorders, where patients act out dreams

What prevents the typical person from acting out their dreams? Temporary paralysis of skeletal muscles, usually leading up to, and during, REM sleep. This academic article and related graphics explore what happens when this process doesn't go as planned, leading to REM sleep behavior disorder.

Physiological muscle memory allows us to quickly regain lost musculature

The term "muscle memory" is most often associated with the neurological kind, which involves the development of strong and efficient neural pathways in the brain and spine. Physiological muscle memory also slows the loss of muscle mass, with both types affected by genetics and diet.

Rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms appear

Rabies, a viral disease attacking the central nervous system, is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear. It spreads through the infected animal saliva (typically through bites) and causes encephalitis, leading to severe neurological symptoms and death. See how the lyssavirus—the bugs behind rabies—work once inside the body.

Why death is caused by a dearth of ATP

Though people die from many causes, this video makes the case that a lack of adenosine triphosphate production in the body is what kills almost all of us. Without ATP, physiological processes grind to a halt, and organs stop functioning.

Someone suffers from a stroke every 40 seconds

Every 40 seconds, someone in the US experiences a stroke—and every minute without treatment destroys millions of brain cells. This explainer breaks down the two main types of strokes, their risk factors, and how early detection could change outcomes in the future.

MS can damage the brain up to 7 years before symptoms appear

Recent research scouring blood samples from 134 people with MS, both before and after their diagnosis, found that about seven years before these patients were diagnosed, there was a spike in a protein called myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein—indicating disease-associated damage to the protective myelin around nerve fibers.

How autoimmune diseases, which attack your own tissues and cells, work in the body

These diseases remain some of medicine's thorniest problems because the immune system can mistakenly attack almost any tissue in the body, resulting in myriad diseases, including lupus (numerous tissues affected), Hashimoto's (thyroid), and MS (the nervous system).

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola

Monoclonal Antibodies mimic the antibodies produced naturally by the immune system. These molecules target specific parts of the virus, preventing them from entering cells or interfering with their ability to cause harm or infection.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Cordyceps: the fungi that turn ants into zombies

The hit show (and video game) "Last of Us" was inspired partly by real-life species of fungi that have been known to turn ants into zombies. Spores of the Cordyceps fungi are capable of penetrating the exoskeletons of arthropods, after which they break into enzymes and proliferate within the body. The fungal cells then hack the ant's nervous system and trigger compulsive climbing.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome may be caused by bacterial remnants in the liver

PTLDS, which refers to lingering symptoms of Lyme after antibiotic treatment, is an area of active research. Rodent research published in 2025 suggests that these ongoing symptoms may potentially be due to the body's inflammatory response to lingering cellular components from the bacteria that cause Lyme, Borrelia burgdorferi. In rodents, components of the bacteria's cellular wall may remain in the liver after the bacteria were eliminated with antibiotics.

Neurons send signals through electrical impulses and chemical messengers

By converting electrical signals into chemical messages at synapses, neurons allow information to travel throughout the nervous system. With repeated use, synapses grow stronger, enhancing the associations between neurons.

Poliomyelitis is derived from Greek

Polio, formally called poliomyelitis, comes from the Greek words for gray (polios) and marrow (myelos)—a reference to the spinal cord tissue that, when infected by the virus, causes paralysis.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.