Your brain generates tons of waste—if it builds up, it can become toxic. But as little as 15 years ago,
scientists had no idea where all that waste went. The brain is protected by the blood-brain barrier, which is supposed to stop almost almost everything from passing through.
The answer is
a whole new body system that scientists have only recently discovered. It's called the
"glymphatic" system, and it bathes the brain in cerebrospinal fluid to clear out toxic proteins and molecules.
What's more, this might even be why we sleep. Researchers have found that the brain's "wash cycle" is most active during deep sleep, when slow waves of electrical activity pulse across the brain. This helps explain why sleep deprivation can be so dangerous—and why it has been pegged as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. It's possible that poor functioning of the glymphatic system could explain why aging brains accumulate the tangled proteins and plaques that are associated with Alzheimer's disease.
But there's also reason for hope. If we can understand common ways that the glymphatic system goes wrong,
we can target it with treatments. Glymphatic impairment could one day be like hypertension: a risk factor for doctors to monitor and treat.
This is just one example of an entire scientific field, which once treated the glymphatic system as "heresy," changing its mind. These stories cut to the heart of what it means to do science—following observations and evidence rather than dogma.
Read more about this "Age of Scientific Reversal," or click the link below.
—Allison
