Best Post of February 2018: Tau accumulations in the brains of woodpeckers

The next in our "Best of the Month" series comes from February 21, 2018

Dr. Peter Cummings makes another appearance on the blog, this time as senior author on a paper entitled: Tau Accumulations in the Brains of Woodpeckers. Eight of ten woodpeckers examined showed cerebral tau accumulations, whereas no control brains (red-winged blackbirds) were positive.This is significant in that there has been some research interest in developing football helmets based on the protective design that has evolved to protect the brains of woodpeckers.But maybe the relatively short life of the woodpecker (average less than 10 years) precludes the need for this protective adaptation. Thanks to Dr. Mark Cohen for alerting me to this study.