ZME Science
by Tudor Tarita
October 20, 2025
Dolphins keep turning up on Florida’s beaches, stuck in the shallows and barely moving. Volunteers and scientists try to help by cooling them down, keeping them wet, and sometimes getting them back to sea. But many don’t make it.
Why such intelligent, social creatures beach themselves has long mystified scientists. Now, a new study published in Communications Biology offers an unsettling possibility: some of these dolphins may be suffering from Alzheimer’s-like brain disease, triggered by exposure to toxic algae flourishing in warming coastal waters.
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