An Alzheimer's breakthrough?

There are videos coming out of China that look almost surreal. A 76-year-old man with late-stage Alzheimer's disease, who could barely communicate, sits down unassisted after an experimental surgery. He speaks coherently. He recognizes family members. In one clip, he's singing—which, as one observer notes, requires higher brain function than just talking. After decades of false starts, dead ends, and a disease that doesn't just kill you but steals your identity, these videos have generated enormous attention. But are they real? And what do they actually mean for the millions of people living with Alzheimer's?

The dark years

Dylan Scott, a senior correspondent at Vox who has covered Alzheimer's for years, describes where the field stood five years ago as "a really dark time." Decades had passed since a new treatment was approved. The only available drugs gave patients a few months of symptom relief before the disease resumed its relentless course. Then the FDA approved a controversial drug against the advice of its own scientific advisors, who said the evidence for effectiveness was weak and the risk of serious side effects was high. The approval created emotional whiplash: hope that something could finally slow the disease, followed almost immediately by that hope being yanked away. Scientists were questioning whether they had Alzheimer's co