There are some things we are better off without. Our lungs would be happier if never exposed to cigarette smoke. Our livers would be healthier if never stuffed with fat. Our arteries would be content without being clogged with cholesterol. And, some scientists argue, our brains would stay sharper without the amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles that accumulate in old age. All these things, and more, have one thing in common: they incite inflammation in our bodies. And they do so by activating a hypersensitive protein called NLRP3.

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