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One Australian firm, Cortical Labs, in Melbourne, has even developed a system of nerve cells in a dish that can play the 1972 sports video game Pong.

The progressive neurodegenerative disease destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are needed to walk, talk, swallow and — eventually — breathe, according to the ALS Assn.

You probably have a general understanding of the human brain: a network of nerve cells connected by synapses.

MND is an incurable condition where nerve cells which control muscles gradually stop working.

There's a specific strain of campylobacter, which has a sugar-coated outer layer, and in rare cases, its molecular structure matches the coating of human nerve cells.