It turns out you are not born with all the neurons you’ll ever need; adult neurogenesis is alive and kicking in the mammalian brain. Most notably for Alzheimer’s disease researchers, this happens in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, an area of the brain intimately involved in learning and memory, and one that is vulnerable in AD. As evident from the first Keystone Symposium on Adult Neurogenesis, which took place in Taos, New Mexico, 9-14 January 2011, scientists are only just beginning to understand how the phenomenon relates to normal and abnormal processes in the aging brain. Landsale Henderson, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia with a definite knack for writing, attended the meeting and brings you this report, edited by Tom Fagan.