Educational Science

Future 'Flash' Radiation Therapy Could Treat Cancer in Milliseconds

Someday, specialized systems could barrage cancer patients with particles to deliver a full course of radiation therapy in mere microseconds, new research suggests. Using an emerging technique known as flash radiotherapy, doctors could eradicate tumors in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional...

Could Scientists 'Hack' the Zika Virus to Kill Brain Cancer?

The mosquito-spread Zika virus known for its links to brain damage in babies born to infected mothers has the potential to target and destroy brain cancer, scientists have found. New research has revealed that the Zika virus breaks into brain cells by using a special molecular key, and scientists think...

Victims of vampire attacks in 19th-century novels didn't just turn pale, swoon and waste away; they displayed a wide range of symptoms that hinted at deadly attacks by a fanged, bloodsucking predator. However, the descriptions of those symptoms were likely grounded in observations of real medical conditions. In fact, the...

Why Do Some Forms of Leukemia Affect Mostly Children?

Certain forms of leukemia tend to strike early in life and affect far more children than adults. Leukemia, which disrupts normal cell growth in the blood and bone marrow, accounts for nearly one-third of all childhood cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The disease manifests in various...

Cancer Patients Get Rare Blood Infection After Nurse Dilutes Opioids with Tap Water

Half a dozen cancer patients in New York developed a rare infection after they received injectable opioids that a nurse had diluted with tap water, according to a new report. It appears that the nurse tampered with the syringes to remove some of the narcotics for her own use, replacing...

The Placenta 'Invades' the Uterus in the Same Way Cancer Invades the Body

Cancer and pregnancy may be more similar than you think, at the cellular level, anyway. Early in human pregnancy, cells from the placenta infiltrate a major artery in the uterus and overtake the cells there, according to the National Institutes of Health. This invasion widens the blood vessel and allows...

Prostate cancer: Causes, symptoms & treatment

Prostate cancer occurs when the cells in the prostate gland grow uncontrollably, which can spread or cause complications due to an abnormally enlarged prostate. This type of cancer is the second most common form of cancer in men globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The prostate gland is...

'Cannibalistic' Cancer Cells Gobble Up Their Own Kind in Microscopic 'Horror Films'

Human breast cancer cells treated with a chemotherapy drug pull nearby tumor cells (red) into centers for digestion, called lysosomes (green). (Image credit: Tonnessen-Murray et al., 2019)Some cancer cells devour their own kind in an act of cannibalism, and now, scientists have captured the grisly act on camera. New videos...

Doctors Are Trying to Use CRISPR to Fight Cancer. The 1st Trial Suggests It's Safe.

In the first clinical trial of its kind, researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to fine-tune the DNA of people's immune cells, in hopes of fighting cancer. Now, preliminary data from the trial suggest that this technique is safe for use in cancer patients. This is proof that we can...