Cancer Research UK on The Rest Is Science

This episode is brought to you by Cancer Research UK. Scientists have found that cancer risks usually increase with age and size, but some species defy the odds. For example, deep sea Greenland sharks. They can grow over six meters long, weigh more than a small car, and yet live for up to four hundred years. Understanding how Greenland sharks' cellular repair and immune systems seem to have managed to keep them cancer free for centuries could open up exciting research pathways. Essentially, over millions of years, evolution has been running the world's most successful cancer prevention trial. And sometimes breakthroughs can be found in unusual places. By exploring the unexpected, Cancer Research UK scientists are uncovering new ways to tackle over 200 types of cancer. Their work has helped to double survival in the UK over the last fifty years and continues to save and improve lives around the world. For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research and breakthroughs, and how you can support them, visit cancerresearchuk.org/therestisscience.