MAPT and Mental deterioration: Collectively, these observations support the idea that brain aging is associated with a broad dysregulation of TE transcripts, including numerous retrotransposons that could have deleterious effects, and that these events may be: (1) further exacerbated in Alzheimer's disease, perhaps by tau as others have reported in mice (Ramirez et al., 2022); and (2) involved in age‐associated cognitive decline and neurodegeneration independent of pathology.