Nobel-prize-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez once wrote of a mythical town in the middle of the jungle whose residents suffer from a mysterious affliction that erases their memories. Today, in a region of Colombia called Antioquia, reality appears to be imitating fiction -- in a way that may answer questions for all of us.An extended family in Colombia with a genetic mutation causing Alzheimer’s may help scientists prevent the disease someday. Lesley Stahl reports on the groundbreaking study, featuring University of California, Santa Barbara's Dr. Ken Kosik. 

The cover story of the September issue of National Geographic on treating blindness featured two research projects underway at the UCSB Stem Cell Center. First mentioned was the California Project to Cure Blindness, a joint effort between USC, UCSB, Caltech, City of Hope, University College London and Regenerative Patch Technologies, where researchers are using embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigmented epithelial cells on a scaffold to treat the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (Clegg and Coffey labs). Second, the article described work led by Henry Klassen at UC Irvine to treat retinitis pigmentosa with retinal stem cells. Both of these stem cell therapies are currently in clinical trials for ocular disease.