The body of evidence, which shows that mutations in hypoxia-responsive elements like angiogenin (ANG) can increase the likelihood of developing ALS (Greenway et al., 2006; van Es et al., 2011; Zou et al., 2012), indicates that some mechanisms of healthy responses to hypoxia are also involved in the ongoing health of motor neurons which fail in ALS. This evidence concerns the gene ANG and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.