By Darren Orf – Popular Mechanics –
The brain may lie at the biological center of our lived experience, but the scientific underpinnings of the brain—specifically, how it forms subjective consciousness—remain mysterious. Sadly, one truth is well-known: As we age, so does our brain. Because this all-important organ filled with 86 billion neurons forms our experience, dysregulation within the brain has outsized impacts on someone’s quality of life.
For years, scientists have tried to find ways to stave off these negative effects and make a person’s healthspan largely match their ever-increasing lifespan. In 2021, Stanford University investigated the debris-cleaning role of the myeloid cells within the brain, and three years later, a study from the University of Rochester on the broader glymphatic system (which interacts with myeloid cells) found ways to restart the flow of brain-cleaning fluids.
