IL‐1 signalling has been shown to play a key role in locomotor activity, explorative behaviour, anxiety and cognition (Kitazawa et al, 2011; Hein et al, 2012; Murray et al, 2013; Wohleb et al, 2014), and inhibition of IL‐1 and inflammasome signalling has highlighted IL‐1 as a key mediator in several neurological disorders, e.g. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis (Halle et al, 2008; Jha et al, 2010; Heneka et al, 2013; Jesus & Goldbach‐Mansky, 2014; Daniels et al, 2016; Sobowale et al, 2016; Dempsey et al, 2017). The gene discussed is IL1A; the disease is stroke disorder.