If you would like to help find cures for a wide-range of common diseases, one of the easiest things that you might be able to do so is to make arrangements to donate your brain to science after you pass away.
Scientists hope that someday they might be able to better understand what causes many diseases and how to cure them. This will require considerable research and to do that research, it is important for scientists to have the appropriate tools.
For many diseases, one of the most important things that scientists need to continue their research is something you might have and it is not money. Scientists might be able to use your brain after you pass away.
The BBC reports that scientists have a shortage of available brains to use and would like people to donate more in “Scientists appeal for more people to donate their brains.”
There are several common diseases that change the structure of a person’s brain.
Researchers can use the organs from people who suffered from those diseases to help others who will suffer from them in the future. While some of those diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are well-known by the general public to have neurological causes, the neurological causes of other diseases are not as commonly understood. For example, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are often assumed by the general public to be psychological, but they are actually neurological and can change the structure of the brain.
If you or anyone you know suffers from a neurological disorder, you might want to consider a donation to help those in the future.
Reference: BBC (Feb. 17, 2017) “Scientists appeal for more people to donate their brains.”
