Cancer: an outside invader or inside rebel?

 Cancer, which accounts for twenty percent of modern-day human deaths, is a devasting diagnosis. Even with our immense improvements in medicine, we haven’t found effective cures for it. As researchers have been desperate to find solutions, many people have lost their lives or loved ones. Robert Weinberg prepared this lecture for those struggling with cancer, especially those with unanswered questions about why it happens and what can be done about it.

 In this lecture series, Robert Weinberg explains cancer on a cellular level and shows us that cancer isn’t as mysterious as we might imagine. In lectures one and two, Weinberg explains how cancer originates in the cell. He explains how small mistakes in numerous DNA replications and cell divisions can lead to cancer. These types of mutations are inevitable and occur more frequently as we age; hence, cancer-related mutations are merely a fact of life. Lectures three and four show us how cancer can develop aggressively. If cell growth is not controlled, cancerous cells can replicate indefinitely, reaching all parts of the human body. Metastasis, which accounts for ninety percent of cancer deaths, is fatal and remains a challenge to the medical community. Lecture five deals with how to treat cancer. We learn what’s important when it comes to cancer treatment as well as new treatments that that show great promise. Weinberg also explains, with persuasive statistics, why it’s necessary to conduct further cancer research.