algae

University of Miami researchers have discovered that beached dolphins appear to be suffering from a condition similar to Alzheimer's disease caused by BMAA toxins from common algae. The environmental toxin beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) has long been suspected of playing a role in some cases of neurological disorders. Hints about the potential health threat of BMAA date back to the aftermath of World War II in the remote Pacific island of Guam. U.S. Army physicians encountered an outbreak of a strange syndrome that the native people called lytico-bodig—the term lytico signifying paralysis and bodig dementia. Some victims had ALS-like symptoms, others exhibited the rigid posture ...