Unbelievable value!

When I signed up to run for Alzheimer's Research UK, they sent me a fundraising pack to help me along - full of ideas, information, and the inevitable logo'd pen and balloon.  Of most interest to me so far has been their newsletter, "think", which includes articles about the research they're funding.

A nice haircut - but is it worth as much as
2.5 hours of Alzheimer's Disease research?

What surprised me most is not how good the research is - I knew that from their website and from articles about dementia research worldwide.  No, the surprise bit of info is that their research only costs £20 per hour!  Now, what can you get in this day and age for £20 per hour?  I got my hair cut today, and that took about an hour including washing it, consultation, and so on.  The bill for an excellent salon experience?  Fifty pounds!  So that's 2.5 hours of dementia research by talented academics at leading universities, vs a one-hour haircut in a provincial salon.  Much as I like the cut, I don't feel it is equivalent in value to 2.5 hours of research into Alzheimer's Disease.   However, that's really not a reflection on the value of the cut - it's an indication of just what good value UK research represents.

[As a small aside, note the way one of my eyes looks wide open and the other is starting to close.  That's a trait that comes from my dad (the guy I blogged about last time, who has Alzheimer's Disease), and my brother and I both have it.  Often one eye is actually closed in photos, though I try hard not to as it looks a little strange.  Having said that, giving the camera a hard stare looks a little strange too.]

But back to the point.  Here is an example of research currently being funded by Alzheimer's Research UK.  The people carrying out the project had already discovered that when rats were fed a diet so high in fat that their bodies stopped responding properly to insulin ("insulin resistance"), they developed memory problems.  The current project aims to test diabetes drugs, which help the body respond better to insulin, as a possible measure to prevent memory decline.  This makes a lot of sense, given that insulin plays an important role in laying down memories, as was discussed in the New Scientist article a couple of months ago on this subject.  Alzheimer's Research UK is providing just £61K for this project - not much more than the price of a couple of family cars, but it could lead to a drug to prevent Alzheimer's - something we simply don't have at the moment.   For the cost of just a couple of cars!  Given how many people are expected to develop dementia over the next few decades, this is phenomenally good value.  Even if the research doesn't provide a prevention drug, it will give us more understanding of the relationship between insulin and Alzheimer's Disease.

So, if you click the donation link in the top right of this page, and give just £20 (25 euros, 33 dollars) to Alzheimer's Research UK, that will fund yet another hour of research - all down to you!  Go on - do it, and then pick an hour in a working day sometime in the future, and put it in your diary.  When that hour comes around, go and celebrate the research being done that you funded!