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Enlarge Image Brain preserver. A newly discovered gene mutation appears to protect against Alzheimer's disease. Credit: Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center/NIA/NIH A rare mutation that alters a single letter of the genetic code protects people from the memory-robbing dementia of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. The DNA change may inhibit the buildup of β amyloid, the protein fragment that accumulates in the hallmark plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Other researchers say the findings are intriguing but not hugely surprising. They fit well, in fact, with current thinking about Alzheimer's disease. The newly...

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. — The ladies in the card room are playing bridge, and at their age the game is no hobby. It is a way of life, a daily comfort and challenge, the last communal campfire before all goes dark. “We play for blood,” says Ruth Cummins, 92, before taking a sip of Red Bull at a recent game. “It’s what keeps us going,” adds Georgia Scott, 99. “It’s where our closest friends are.” In recent years scientists have become intensely interested in what could be called a super memory club — the fewer than one in 200 of...