A new study published in Neurology suggest that pilots who fly at high altitudes may be at an increased risk of developing brain lesions. Pilots who fly above 18,000 feet are at risk for decompression sickness, an ailment that causes bubbles in body tissue when gas and atmospheric pressure reaches lower levels than that in the body. Symptoms of decompression sickness include confusion, unresponsiveness and permanent memory loss. Research found that the lesions were distributed evenly throughout the brain as opposed to just in the frontal white matter, where they can be found as a result of normal aging. “These results may be valuable in assessing risk for occupations that include high-altitude mountain climbing, deep sea diving and high-altitude flying,” the study’s author said. Click here to read the full story.