"This Is Your Brain on Football"

X-RAY image by Nick Veasay

This Is Your Brain on Football an article written by Jeanne Marie Laskas talks about a forensic pathologist, and many others who are concerned on why there are certain football players that display symptoms of aggression and memory loss, and different kinds of medical issues after being retired. The article discusses the struggle and the grueling efforts of the scientists to get the word out about CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) which is a buildup of tau proteins that you see in Alzheimer's patients. Which can result from repeated concussions. The article also focuses on the NFL organization MTBI (NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee)  and there unwillingness to help and acknowledge the problem. Even though by 2009 they have come around somewhat into admitting what may be happening. There are many different disciplines that can be seen throughout this article,

• Psychology: This discipline would focus on why the behavioral changes were occurring. Why pro athletes went from being wealthy and successful and healthy, to having aggression and other issues.
• Biology/Chemistry: In this discipline they would look at the effects that concussions have on the brain. What injuries cause the brain to form tau proteins, and the chemical alterations that occur
• Business: In the article it talks about how Mike Webster was only given partially disability by the NFL. So this discipline would look at how the NFL ran there business  and what was there "qualifications" for receiving disability.
• Communication Mass/Human: This discipline could look at how media reported the findings. Human communication could look at the interactions between the scientists and the NFL.
• Politics: This discipline could look into how the NFL organization is ran, and the politics that go into running a massive company. The power they are able to hold over others.