Science

Ronald Bailey | From the June 2024 issue

In the June 2024 issue, we explore the ways that artificial intelligence is shaping our economy and culture. The stories and art are about AI—and occasionally by AI. (Throughout the issue, we have rendered all text generated by AI-powered tools in blue.) To read the rest of the issue, go here.

Should you be allowed to take a blood test that could tell you if you're already at risk of Alzheimer's disease? Last year, Quest Diagnostics began offering a consumer-initiated blood test for $399 (not covered by insurance) that detects the buildup of proteins associated with the development of Alzheimer's in customers' plasma. Under pressure from other biomarker researchers and the Alzheimer's Association, Quest no longer offers its test to consumers. But other such tests are poised to come to the consumer market.

Prior to the advent of the new blood biomarker tests, clunky and expensive brain scans and spinal taps could confirm an Alzheimer's diagnosis only after a person was already experiencing the cognitive symptoms of the illness. The new biomarker tests can alert users to their risk as much as 10 years before symptom onset.

The Quest test was targeted to people over age 50 with a family history of Alzheimer's and to those worried that their memory is becoming impaired. Critics properly argued that the Quest test's false positive rate (that is, the rate at which it incorrectly diagnoses someone........

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