We need a lot more documentaries like this, which was aired on PBS. We live in an underfunded, anti-science time which is also hostile to fact and truth. This shows the slow, methodical detective work - not to mention the struggle for funding - that is the hallmark of all great scientific efforts and breakthroughs.
Doctors and scientists in the fields of neurology, immunology, infectious diseases, etc. were drawn to Guam in the 1950's to study a local ailment which displayed symptoms of ALS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It is called Lytico-Bodig and researchers treated the island population as though they held the Rosetta Stone of understanding all three of these degenerative diseases and perhaps many others as well.
Sixty years later and there is still no answer as to cause or prevention. But that is not the same thing as saying researchers have made no progress. Science is perhaps the only field by which success is defined by continuous failure. Every new theory must be fully and repeatedly tested before determining what, if anything, was learned and is of value before moving on to the next theory. Perhaps one day bits and pieces from numerous theories will be discovered as the answer -- once they are linked together as a result of endless and meticulous testing.
Doctors and scientists in the fields of neurology, immunology, infectious diseases, etc. were drawn to Guam in the 1950's to study a local ailment which displayed symptoms of ALS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It is called Lytico-Bodig and researchers treated the island population as though they held the Rosetta Stone of understanding all three of these degenerative diseases and perhaps many others as well.
Sixty years later and there is still no answer as to cause or prevention. But that is not the same thing as saying researchers have made no progress. Science is perhaps the only field by which success is defined by continuous failure. Every new theory must be fully and repeatedly tested before determining what, if anything, was learned and is of value before moving on to the next theory. Perhaps one day bits and pieces from numerous theories will be discovered as the answer -- once they are linked together as a result of endless and meticulous testing.
