The genetic basis of a distressing neurological condition that prevents people from recognising faces has been pinned down. The finding may help people cope with the impairment, which may affect as many as 1 in 50 people from birth. People with prosopagnosia or face blindness cannot easily tell faces apart, even if they belong to people they know well, and so often see their friends and family as strangers (see "Hello, stranger"). The condition is usually associated with brain damage, for example, from a stroke, but numerous anecdotal reports have suggested that it also runs in families.
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