freelance science journalist and author
From the Guardian, 29 April 2025: You walk into a room and forget why. Someone introduces themselves at a party and within seconds you’ve forgotten their name. You can’t remember where you parked the car. You’ve put your phone in the fridge. You can’t recall your granddaughter’s name. Your best friend dies and you keep … Continue reading Signs of dementia or normal forgetfulness? How to tell the difference
From the Guardian, 15 May 2023: In many ways, Ronin and Ethan are typical young boys. They love Hot Wheels toy cars, Shaun the Sheep, rude noises and pizza nights. Nine-year-old Ethan dotes on the family pets. Ronin, seven, is always booting a soccer ball around the back yard. “They’re two absolutely lovable friendly kids, … Continue reading ‘You mean there’s nothing?’ The families fighting for their children with dementia
From Nature Middle East, 6 April 2022: Lewy body disease, or dementia with Lewy bodies, is characterised by a brain build-up of a particular form of the protein alpha-synuclein, forming clumps called aggregates. These aggregates are mostly made up of the phosphorylated form of alpha-synuclein, in which a single amino acid – serine 129 – … Continue reading Rethinking Lewy body dementia
From The Guardian, 14 November 2018: It’s a rainy Wednesday morning and Dr Andrew Affleck is driving more carefully than usual on his way to the Neuroscience Research Australia building in Randwick. It’s not just the slick, crowded roads putting the edge on his caution; in the boot of his car, cocooned in several layers … Continue reading ‘We need their brains’: donating to the brain bank in search of a dementia cure
From ABC News in Science, 18 August 2014: The discovery of a link between Alzheimer’s disease and changes in several genes associated with inflammation opens a new frontier for investigation into the cause of the disease. Two independent studies, published today in Nature Neuroscience, support an emerging theory that inflammation may play a key role … Continue reading Genes point to immune role in Alzheimer’s disease
From ABC News in Science, 4 April 2013: Amyloid proteins may have been wrongfully accused as the culprits behind Alzheimer’s disease, new research in mice suggests. Two studies – one Australian, one from the US – have examined the role amyloid proteins play in the brain with one study suggesting that far from being a … Continue reading Alzheimer’s culprit may be ‘innocent’
Bianca Nogrady 