En español | New research appears to upend our current scientific understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, and may lead to a whole new approach to finding a cure for the devastating dementia. The new theory gaining traction in the scientific community is that in Alzheimer’s the brain is destroyed not by sticky plaques — long held to be the culprit — but by floating clumps of protein. In fact, the sticky plaques that coat the brain cells of those with Alzheimer’s may be the body’s way of protecting against these deadly clumps — the way an oyster forms a pearl to protect against an irritating grain of sand, according to one researcher.

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