In August, the Finnish President signed a new law to end the display of tobacco products in the country’s shops. It’s a timely move and one that’s being mirrored across the world. Scotland, for example, is pressing ahead with its own law. The Coalition Government in Westminster is considering whether to take this step, given [...]
Imagine you’ve entered a contest to cook the world’s biggest ball of spaghetti. You have to meet the following criteria: the ball has to be made of a single spaghetti strand; the strand has to be entwined in a very exact way; and you have to be able to pick up the ball without the [...]
Last September, we covered results from a small trial of an experimental drug called PLX4032, which has been developed to treat patients whose cancers are caused by a faulty version of a gene called BRAF. Today, yet more encouraging results were announced in the New England Journal of Medicine, which were reported widely in the [...]
Malignant melanoma – the most dangerous form of skin cancer – is a cunning adversary. Once it has started spreading through the body, the disease is difficult to treat effectively. The cancer cells seem to shrug off the effects of DNA-damaging chemotherapy drugs, repairing themselves, and continuing to multiply as before. As a result, many [...]
The UK led the world in developing hospices and effective palliative care. People like Dame Cicely Saunders were trailblazers in showing how important it is to make sure that, when people can’t be cured and are approaching the end of their lives, it’s important to focus on the things that make what time they have [...]
As we reported on our news feed yesterday, two new international trials are reporting yet more benefits from a new experimental cancer drug called olaparib. At Cancer Research UK we’re very optimistic about this drug, which our scientists played a key role in developing. It’s a new type of cancer drug, called a PARP inhibitor, [...]
Every time a cell divides, its chromosomes go through a country dance. Forming pairs, they line up in a neat row, facing each other, before dramatically shimmying to opposite ends of the room along long ‘spindles’ of protein. Having split its dancing partners, the cell pinches itself in two and separates them forevermore. The spindle [...]Scientists at our Cambridge Research Institute have turned their gaze from the lab bench to the stars, teaming up with researchers from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. Writing in The Times (requires payment), science editor Mark Henderson explores this unlikely collaboration, and how it could help cancer patients in the future. [...]
In a speech in July, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley signalled to a room full of healthcare professionals how the Coalition Government’s public health policy would differ from that of the previous administration. Gone are the days, he said, of “lecturing and nannying”. Instead, the strategy would be “nudging individuals in the right direction, encouraging positive [...]
When it comes to what causes breast cancer, the evidence can be confusing. And the constant flow of often conflicting reports in the media does little to help matters. This is why we provided some advice to the Daily Mail for a recent feature on the evidence behind a range of different breast cancer risk [...]