Week after week we obsess over athletes’ bodies… who got hit where, who used theirs to run in a touchdown and who is looking hot (okay, maybe that’s just the women out there).
 

Now, a new center at Boston University’s School of Medicine is putting the focus on athletes’ brains. Twelve athletes have agreed to sign over their brains after death to advance the study of the long-term effects of concussions.
 

The big news coming out of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is that John Grimsley, the former Houston Oilers linebacker who shot himself in what was deemed an accident, was found to have brain damage commonly found in boxers. The center believes concussions may be responsible for depression, memory problems and other issues down the line. Of six former NFL players’ brains that have been studied, five were found to have such damage, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
 

The New York Times reports:

The former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, one of the players who has agreed to donate his brain, said he hoped the center would help clarify the issue of concussions’ long-term effects, which have been tied to cognitive impairment and depression in several published studies. The N.F.L. says that, in regard to its players, the long-term effects of concussions are uncertain.

Obviously it’s in the NFL’s best interests to keep players in the league, but come on...five out of six is hardly uncertain.