Cancer Research UK on The Rest Is Science

Here's something strange. Your DNA contains more ancient viral fragments than genes. The genes that build our cells make up only 2% of our DNA. And for years, that is what scientists focused on. They treated the rest, the ancient viruses and stuff, as junk. Hannah Fry: But now we know that that hidden majority, sometimes called the dark genome, influences how our biology works and how diseases like cancer behave. Michael Stevens: It's a reminder that progress rarely comes as a single breakthrough. It builds gradually. Cancer Research UK plays a central role in that progress, supporting decades of research into over 200 types of cancer, work that's helped double survival in The UK over the past fifty years. Hannah Fry: For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research breakthroughs, and how you can support them, visit cancerresearchuk.org forward slash the rest is science.