FindingNeuro began with a chess player, a grandfather, and a question that wouldn't leave: why is the science advancing so fast, while the families who need it most can barely find a plain-language summary?
I'm a student at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. I've been playing chess competitively since I was young and hold a Woman Candidate Master (WCM) title. For most of my life, chess was just chess. A game. A discipline. A way of thinking.
But somewhere along the way, I started noticing something about how chess actually works. The strongest players don't calculate every possible move from scratch. They recognize patterns. They've seen a position like this before: the pawn structure, the open file, the king's exposure. They know what it means. Memory and pattern recognition aren't just helpful in chess. They are chess. Remove them, and the game collapses.
That connection between cognitive ability and something I love became much more personal when my grandfather started changing. He's getting older, and I've watched him struggle with things that used to come easily. A word he can't find. A story told twice. A moment of confusion that passes as quickly as it came, but stays with me longer. My family doesn't have a full diagnosis yet. We're still in that uncertain middle space that millions of families know: something is different, and we don't quite have the words for it.
When I started looking for information, real information and not vague reassurances, I ran into the same wall every family hits. The research existed. Scientists were making real progress on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Lewy Body Dementia. But the findings were locked behind journal paywalls and written in language so dense that even people with advanced degrees struggled to parse it. The gap between what was known and what families could access felt unconscionable.
Millions of families are navigating these diseases without the information they deserve. Not because the science isn't there, but because no one has made it accessible. FindingNeuro exists to change that.
I also knew something about how AI changes things. Chess was one of the first domains AI genuinely transformed, and not just by playing better. It changed how humans understand the game itself. Engines revealed patterns that grandmasters had missed for decades. They didn't replace chess players; they made it possible to learn faster and understand more deeply than ever before. I saw no reason that same principle couldn't apply here. AI that helps translate dense neuroscience into plain language, reviewed by humans for accuracy and care, could make a real difference to families who need it.
FindingNeuro is my attempt to build that bridge. I'm a high school student, not a neurologist. What I have is the ability to learn, the tools to build, and a recognition drawn from chess, from my grandfather, and from everything I've read about these diseases: the right information, reaching the right people at the right time, genuinely matters.
The name came from a feeling, not a formula. Families navigating neurodegenerative disease are always finding: finding diagnoses, finding resources, finding the right words to explain what is happening to someone they love. There's something universal about that kind of search: crossing unfamiliar territory, driven by love, hoping to bring someone home. We wanted the name to hold that.
FindingNeuro is built on a simple model: AI translates the science, students verify the accuracy, and everything we publish is free. No paywalls. No advertising. No sponsorships. No agenda beyond giving families the information they deserve.
Our team monitors trusted sources — NIH, major medical journals, leading neurology organizations — for research relevant to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Lewy Body Dementia. We also accept submissions from families and researchers.
We use Claude, Anthropic's AI, to translate the paper into a structured plain-language summary covering what was studied, what was found, what it means for families, and what remains unknown. Caveats about study limitations are always included.
STEM-interested student volunteers check each summary for accuracy, clarity, and tone before it's published. They flag anything misleading, oversimplified, or missing important context. This human layer is what makes FindingNeuro trustworthy rather than just fast.
Verified summaries are published in our library with full source attribution, study type disclosures, and honest caveats. Every family can read them, share them, and use them to have better conversations with their doctors.
If you found this site because someone you love is changing, and you don't yet have the words for it, I want you to know that what you're feeling is completely normal. The confusion. The fear. The strange grief of losing someone who is still here.
You are not alone. There are millions of families exactly where you are. The science is advancing faster than it ever has. And the information you need exists. It's just been kept behind a wall that never should have been there.
FindingNeuro exists to lower that wall. I hope it helps.
FindingNeuro is an independent educational project. It is not affiliated with any medical institution, pharmaceutical company, or government agency. All content is sourced from peer-reviewed research and established health organizations. Nothing on this site constitutes medical advice.