Science blog

It’s hard to talking about cancers ‘knowing’ something, but they can have predictable patterns of spread. And scientists are beginning to understand why.

In this week’s news: scientists use CRISPR to catalogue cancer’s weaknesses and researchers train cancer sniffing canines.

Our international team of scientists are tackling a fundamental question about how cancer develops: why do some gene faults only cause cancer in certain organs?

In this week’s news: positive results from the HPV vaccination programme in Scotland and new research looks at the areas of our face we might miss when applying sunscreen.

In this week’s news: new research asks, ‘how many cigarettes are in a bottle of wine?’ and special offers fuel obese shoppers.

Research today asked: ‘How many cigarettes are in a bottle of wine?’ But how these stats might now affect the way people view drinking remains to be seen.

Inflammation can prevent infections and helps repair injuries. But for people with long-term inflammatory conditions, it can sometimes lead to cancer.

In this week’s news: headlines saying ‘hot tea causes oesophageal cancer’ miss crucial details and Government proposes junk food ad watershed.

Gut bacteria may help some bowel cancers grow. Our Grand Challenge scientists want to see if tinkering with these tiny communities could be a new way to treat cancer.