Science news this week: A breakthrough cure for Huntington’s disease and a fast-growing black hole that breaks physics

This week’s science news has been dominated by medical marvels, with the announcement of a breakthrough gene therapy that has treated Huntington’s disease for the first time.

Huntington’s disease is relatively rare, affecting 1 in 10,000 to 20,000 people in the U.S., but it’s a cruel and terrible disease. Caused by a single defective gene, the disease runs through families and appears between the ages of 30 and 50 with dementia-like symptoms that include loss of cognition and motor control. Until now, no treatments have slowed the disease’s progression, and patients typically die within 10 to 25 years of it manifesting.