Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

Why Some Brains with Alzheimer’s Stay Sharp?

For decades, Alzheimer’s disease has been associated with one painful expectation—progressive memory loss, confusion, and decline in thinking ability. But surprisingly, researchers have found that not everyone with Alzheimer’s-related brain changes actually develops symptoms.

Some older adults continue to think clearly, remember well, and live independently—even though their brains show the same damaging signs seen in Alzheimer’s patients. This rare and fascinating condition is called asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AsymAD), and it is now giving scientists powerful clues about how the brain may protect itself.

A new study from the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications, is helping to explain why this happens. And more importantly, it may open the door to future treatments that prevent memory loss before it even begins.

A Strange Medical Mystery: Alzheimer’s Without Symptoms

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than seven million people in the United States alone. It is usually marked by two harmful changes in the brain:

  • Amyloid plaques (sticky protein clumps between brain cells)

  • Neurofibrillary tangles (twisted fibers of tau protein inside neurons)

These changes damage communication between brain cells, eventually leading to memory loss and cognitive decline.

But researchers have discovered something unusual: around 20–30% of people who show these brain changes never develop symptoms. Their brains look affected under a microscope, but their minds remain surprisingly intact.

This contradiction has puzzled scientists for years.

Searching for the Brain’s Hidden Defense System

To solve this mystery, UC San Diego researchers studied gene activity in thousands of human brain samples. Instead of focusing only on visible damage, they examined how genes behave differently in various people.

The research team used an advanced artificial intelligence-based system developed by Dr. Debashis Sahoo, a computer science and pediatrics expert at UC San Diego. This system helped identify hidden molecular patterns that would be nearly impossible to detect manually.

According to co-senior researcher Dr. Sushil K. Mahata, this approach is changing how scientists understand Alzheimer’s:

“Even when the brain shows clear signs of Alzheimer’s, some people stay mentally sharp. We are beginning to uncover the brain’s built-in defenses.”

This idea shifts the focus from only studying damage to also studying protection.

A Molecular “Fingerprint” of Brain Health

One of the most important discoveries in the study is the identification of a unique gene expression fingerprint.

This fingerprint clearly separates three groups:

  • Healthy aging brains

  • Brains with symptomatic Alzheimer’s

  • Brains with Alzheimer’s changes but no symptoms (AsymAD)

What makes this discovery powerful is that it was consistent across multiple independent datasets. This means the pattern is not random—it is a real biological signal.

This fingerprint could eventually help doctors:

  • Detect Alzheimer’s risk earlier

  • Identify people who are naturally protected

  • Develop personalized treatment strategies

The Secret May Lie in Brain Protection Genes

The study found that people with asymptomatic Alzheimer’s share a special biological pattern:

  • Lower activity in genes linked to tau protein buildup

  • Higher activity in genes involved in cellular stress response

Tau proteins normally help stabilize brain cells, but in Alzheimer’s they can form harmful tangles that disrupt communication. Interestingly, people who stay cognitively healthy appear to naturally suppress harmful tau-related activity.

At the same time, their brains activate stronger defense systems that help cells survive stress and damage.

In simple terms, their brains are not just avoiding damage—they are actively protecting themselves.

A Key Protein: Chromogranin A (CgA)

One of the most exciting discoveries in the study is a protein called Chromogranin A (CgA).

Researchers believe this protein may act like a molecular switch, deciding whether Alzheimer’s-related brain changes will lead to memory loss or not.

To test this idea, scientists conducted experiments on mice. When they removed CgA:

  • The mice showed less Alzheimer’s-related brain damage

  • Tau protein buildup was reduced

  • The protective effect was even stronger in female mice

This suggests that CgA plays a major role in determining how the brain responds to Alzheimer’s pathology.

If scientists can learn how to control this protein safely, it may become a target for future therapies.

Why Some Brains Resist Damage

The study suggests that brain resilience in Alzheimer’s is not accidental. Instead, it may be controlled by a combination of genetic and molecular factors.

The key protective features include:

  • Strong stress-response systems that repair damage

  • Lower activity of harmful tau-related genes

  • Protective gene networks that maintain brain stability

These mechanisms work together to keep cognitive function intact, even when disease markers are present.

This discovery challenges a long-held belief that Alzheimer’s damage always leads to memory loss. Instead, it shows that the brain may have built-in systems to fight back.

What This Means for the Future of Alzheimer’s Treatment

This research is not just about understanding a rare condition—it could change how Alzheimer’s is treated in the future.

Instead of focusing only on removing plaques and tangles after they form, scientists may now explore ways to:

  • Strengthen the brain’s natural defense systems

  • Activate protective genes

  • Block harmful proteins like CgA

  • Detect risk before symptoms appear

If successful, this approach could shift Alzheimer’s treatment from reaction to prevention.

A Step Toward Early Detection and Prevention

One of the most promising outcomes of this study is its potential for early diagnosis. If doctors can identify the gene expression fingerprint of asymptomatic individuals, they may be able to:

  • Predict who is at risk years before symptoms appear

  • Monitor brain health more accurately

  • Start preventive treatments earlier

This could dramatically change outcomes for millions of people worldwide.

A New Way of Thinking About Brain Aging

Perhaps the most important lesson from this research is that the brain is not passive in the face of disease. It has active defense systems that can sometimes keep it functioning normally even under stress.

This opens up a new way of thinking:

Instead of asking only “What causes Alzheimer’s?”, scientists are now also asking
“What protects the brain from it?”

Understanding this balance between damage and protection may be the key to unlocking future cures.

Conclusion

The UC San Diego study offers hope in a field that has long been dominated by challenges. It shows that some brains can resist Alzheimer’s damage through powerful genetic and molecular defense systems.

The discovery of protective gene patterns and the role of Chromogranin A brings science closer to understanding why some people stay mentally sharp despite brain changes.

While much research is still needed, one message is clear:
the brain may be far more resilient than we once believed—and learning how it protects itself could change the future of Alzheimer’s treatment forever.

Reference: Jati, S., Taheri, S., Kal, S. et al. AI guided discovery of a murine model of asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. acta neuropathol commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-026-02286-y

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Planetary Movements Might Explain Sunspot Cycles and Solar Phenomena

Sunspots, dark patches on the Sun's surface, follow a cycle of increasing and decreasing activity every 11 years. For years, scientists have relied on the dynamo model to explain this cycle. According to this model, the Sun's magnetic field is generated by the movement of plasma and the Sun's rotation. However, this model does not fully explain why the sunspot cycle is sometimes unpredictable. Lauri Jetsu, a researcher, has proposed a new approach. Jetsu’s analysis, using a method called the Discrete Chi-square Method (DCM), suggests that planetary movements, especially those of Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury, play a key role in driving the sunspot cycle. His theory focuses on Flux Transfer Events (FTEs), where the magnetic fields of these planets interact with the Sun’s magnetic field. These interactions could create the sunspots and explain other solar phenomena like the Sun’s magnetic polarity reversing every 11 years. The Sun, our closest star, has been a subject of scient...
Post a Comment
Read more