• Question: i heard on the news that scientist are discovering that the great white shark might have the cure to cancer and do you know anything about this?

    Asked by anon-202674 to Matthew on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Matthew Smith

      Matthew Smith answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      I did come across this story and it’s really interesting!

      From my understanding, it’s thought that these sharks don’t get cancer as much and scientists think that this may be due to them having evolved to develop mechanisms that repair damage (especially to our DNA) that can cause cancer. Scientists hope that if we look at their DNA (which is effectively a user manual that makes our bodies work correctly), we will find what these differences are and that we can harness them to help better understand how cancer starts in humans. Humans are very clever at discovering new things and understanding our surroundings, but nature always tends to have got there first!

      Interestingly, they aren’t the only animal we have come across that seems special when it comes to not getting cancer. An animal, called the naked mole rat, has also been seen to live a life free of cancer (see link below)!

      https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731093255.htm

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