Cancer Discoveries

News is traveling around on the internet that scientists have discovered the cause of cancer. Studies of skin and lung cancer have shown that mutations in the DNA in those parts of the body are caused by exposure to cigarette smoke and ultraviolet light from the sun and some of those changes make the cells become cancerous. It's likely that other forms of cancer are also caused by genetic mutations.

It will take a lot more research before scientists can discover treatments that can cure cancer, but at least this is a step in the right direction and offers hope that someday a cure will be developed.

In the meantime the study offers convincing evidence of the dangers of smoking and too much sun exposure. Perhaps the study will convince more people to protect themselves from those dangers and, as a result, cut down on the frequency of melanoma and lung cancer.

Science Non-Fiction

It sounds like something from a Science Fiction book or movie, but scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL have announced a discovery that may eventually enable people to control things with their thoughts.

So far the people who participated in experiments by having electrodes surgically placed on the surfaces of their brains were only able to make letters appear by thinking about them, but eventually, with tiny computers implanted in their heads, people with various disabilities may be able to control things like artificial legs and hands.

The idea of having computers implanted in human brains sounds a bit scary, especially for those of us who read and watch Sci-Fi, but people with special needs probably consider becoming able to walk and use their hands again well worth the risk that someday bad guys will be able to control the human race with similar contraptions. ;-)

In fact many prosthetic devices currently in use would have been considered science fiction a few decades ago. We live in amazing times and I hope it will only take a few years for those Florida researchers to develop instruments that will make life much easier for thousands of people.

If you would like to read more about their study, here's a link to the story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6744874/Computer-program-allows-users-to-write-with-their-minds.html

New Research

Many people with chronic illness are delighted to see news stories about this newly-released scientific study: http://www.wpinstitute.org/xmrv/index.html. It's about a retrovirus called XMRV that has been discovered in most of the subjects tested who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and similar conditions. Of course it will take time to see if anti-viral medications can cure those diseases, but at last there is hope.

Since the same virus has also been found in people with certain kinds of cancer, it's possible that XMRV is not the cause of the diseases but simply takes advantage of damaged immune systems. But even that is helpful for people with CFS/ME and FM since it proves those illnesses are real and not just psychosomatic. It's hard enough to live with debilitating chronic illness without being told "It's all in your head" and having to struggle to find a medical practitioner who believes you're really sick.