Puzzling Puzzles

Of all the literature I read this year, the most memorable articles were about the theories of Alzheimer's Disease pathology.

I can't stop thinking about why there are so many theories and why no single theory is yet outstanding. Whenever I think about this conundrum, I continually return to the notion of different perspectives. Every experiment conducted, every paper published, can only tell us how things look from wherever that team stands. It is entirely possible that the truth of Alzheimer's pathogenesis is a combination of all theories out there but in order to prove such, we need to understand the "larger picture" - see everything all at once.

Upon reviewing my final thesis paper, Mrs. Gergen asked me if there was a specific theory I had the most confidence in. I've had a lot of trouble trying to ponder this. The first reason for my trouble is that I don't know enough. The other reason is that I'm pretty sure such catastrophic mysteries of biology are far too complex to be contained in one theory or idea.

I think of Alzheimer's like one huge puzzle. We have many of the pieces, many theories, but we need to understand what goes where - how to piece them together. To me, that's the only true theory. Only when we can understand each piece within the context of the others, will we truly uncover the full picture of the disease. (238)