Statins for Algernon: Cholesterol-lowering drug fights learning disability

In Daniel Keyes’ 1966 novel Flowers for Algernon (Harcourt), an experimental treatment gives a mouse and a learning-disabled man increased intellectual abilities. Real-life researchers, too, have strived to develop effective treatments for learning-disabled people. Now, a study in mice suggests that a drug for high cholesterol may reverse learning deficits caused by a common genetic disease.