More than 3,000 former players and their families have filed a class-action lawsuit against the National Football League, alleging that the organization downplayed the risks associated with head injuries and “fostered a culture of violent play.”

A number of players have committed suicide after sustaining concussions during their NFL careers, injuries often followed by uncontrollable mood swings, attention deficit and other problems. Many have donated their brains to medical science in an attempt to better understand the consequences of head trauma. The Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has roughly 60 such cases in its athletes’ brain bank.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.