Why do we get cancer? Is it our modern diets and unhealthy habits? Chemicals in the environment? An unwelcome genetic inheritance? Or is it just bad luck?The answer is all of these and none of them. We get cancer because we can't avoid it—it's a bug in the system of life itself.Cancer exists in nearly every animal and has afflicted humans as long as our species has walked the earth. In Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science ...

The language of genes has become common parlance. We know they make your eyes blue, your hair curly or your nose straight. The media tells us that our genes control the risk of cancer, heart disease, alcoholism or Alzheimer's. The cost of DNA sequencing has plummeted from billions of pounds to a few hundred, and gene-based advances in medicine hold huge promise.So we've all heard of genes, but how do they actually work?There are 2.2 metres of DNA inside eve...

Krebs beginnt, wenn Zellen rebellieren, wenn sie außer Kontrolle geraten und in eine chaotische Parodie normalen Lebens ausarten. Dieselben Gene, die Tumore befördern, sind auch für jede andere Funktion von Leben verantwortlich. Krebs ist keine Krankheit, die wir selbst durch unseren modernen Lebensstil über uns gebracht haben. Tatsächlich war er unser Begleiter von allem Anfang an: Tödliche Tumore finden sich in ägyptischen Mumien und in Fossilien von Dinosauriern. Aber die Forschung mach...