Alzheimer's went into the textbooks with n=2
Many of you might know (or not) that Alzheimer's disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who first reported that the brains of some patients with age-related dementia had "a peculiar substance" (which today we know as beta-amyloid plaques).
But did you know that he found that in exactly 2 patients that he studied before his boss put it in a 1910 textbook and coined it "Alzheimer's disease"? That substance could have been a complete coincidence! (And in that case, I guess we never would have heard about it again) ...
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546010/how-not-to-study-a-disease/
@NicoleCRust I ran into this book at the EMBL library a couple of years ago, highly recommend it.
+this intriguing content bit to read:
» provides a roadmap that points us in a new direction in our journey to a cure for Alzheimer's. «
@cyrilpedia
I endorse! I wish every brain researcher would read it (even if they don't study Alzheimer's disease). Says a lot about how a field can go astray.