(FORTUNE Small Business) – Alzheimer's disease now afflicts half of the U.S. population over 85, and every month another 50,000 people are diagnosed with some form of age-related dementia. There is no cure, but can it be prevented? A company called Neuroscience Solutions is designing videogame-like software to help seniors build new brain synapses and perhaps stave off mental deterioration. This summer Neuroscience will begin selling the software in the first of five versions, for hearing, eyesight, problem solving, motor control, and balance. Each takes about 35 hours in sessions over a six-week period. The company will market a professional version for doctors to administer (roughly $1,000) and a do-it-yourself version ($500). Neuroscience Solutions is still conducting research into how effective the software is, with results expected to appear in medical journals in early 2005. —JULIA BOORSTIN