Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases are characterized by the death of cells in certain areas of the brain. Now chemists in Spain are working on a compound that may be used one day to help slow the progress of these heart-breaking conditions.

It is humbling to think about the cross-relationships of various substances within the human body–how some of this does one thing and too much of the same thing does completely opposite things. Nitric oxide is one of the most mysterious and powerful of these substances. Here’s another one on how erectile dysfunction (NO is instrumental in this condition) has a strong association with heart disease.

There’s a reason scientists do the work they do–they don’t just have the brains to comprehend all this complexity, they also have the patience to go through all the minute studies over time that are required to learn something new about this mystery called life.