You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

Hey there, Maddie Sify here today with NPR's Brain Guy, John Hamilton.

He's here to talk to us about the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference,

which was in Denver this year.

Hey, Maddie.

So, John, fascinating times to have an Alzheimer's meeting, I suppose.

Yeah, let's just say COVID-19 was a big presence this year.

Partly, that was because of the Delta variant that is spreading so fast.

I was sitting in one session when someone walked up to the podium

and announced that we all had to mask up.

This was when the CDC had just changed its mask guidance.

And while there wasn't a huge surge in Denver, this meeting draws people from all over the world.

So, we all started wearing masks.

Right, I mean, last year it was virtual.

We were about six months into the pandemic.

So, I imagine a lot of research has happened since then, both related to COVID

and more generally, because Alzheimer's is such a huge area of study.

That's right.

And I'd like to talk about a couple of things.

First and foremost, there was some new research on whether there's a link between

COVID and Alzheimer's.

Second, I was on shortwave a few weeks ago talking about the new drug that the FDA approved for Alzheimer's.

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