Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and, despite its huge impact, there’s still no effective cure. Its impact on society is huge and it has been calculated that, by 2050, the number of cases of Alzheimer’s will have tripled, rising from the current 1.2 cases in Spain to 3.6 million. As the disease advances, there’s progressive neurodegeneration that affects not only memory but also the ability to relate to others and even the individual’s own identity.

For years, it was believed that the brain damage associated with Alzheimer’s, especially in the regions essential for memory, only occurred when two proteins were present: amyloid beta and tau. However, this hypothesis could be about to change.

Thousands of years ago, finding food was no easy task and our bodies became increasingly specialised in storing a precious energy resource: fat. 

However, now the situation is quite different. In today’s society, with our typically sedentary lives and high-calorie diets, we accumulate fat very quickly and its excess in our bodies is directly related to obesity and other metabolic health problems.

When we ingest excess calories, cells called adipocytes are responsible for storing them as fat. This prevents fat from being deposited in other tissues and organs such as the liver or the walls of blood vessels, which would be harmful. Until now, it was not fully understood how adipocytes managed to store this fat without becoming overwhelmed but,

“Spanish girls want to be #ASTRONAUTS. It’s not a dream; it’s a reality” posted Sara García Alonso after the publication of the Annual Adecco Survey, which asked over 1,100 children about what they dreamed of doing as a job.

Sara, a molecular biologist at Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the country’s first candidate to become an astronaut for the European Space Agency, has managed to make travelling into space seem possible and has fired the imagination of young girls. Because when a woman is visible, when she forges a path, many more girls can see themselves in her place. 

That’s why today, to commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science,