All about the science of disease
A newly released report by the British cancer charity Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has finally put a number on what epidemiologists and cancer scientists have known for a long time: obesity is one of the biggest causes of cancer, and is set to become the most common cause of cancer in women by 2043. Obesity … Read more
Over the last few years, I have devoted a lot of space on this platform to women’s health and oncology. That is because I am both a cancer scientist currently working in breast cancer and because I have always regarded myself as a person who is generally in favor of promoting women’s health through education … Read more
Does Coffee Coffee Cause Cancer? While this is not a dumb question, we as a society have made a real mess of the answer. Let’s start with the facts. Coffee does not cause cancer. How do we know? Scientists have been doing research on this very subject for a long time. Meta-studies looking at all the … Read more
In “The Science You Should Have Heard About This Week” we look at exciting, novel pieces of research that have not been majorly featured by the media – and compare and contrast the with some of the silliest bad science reporting out there. We had quite a few candidates for bad science reporting this week, … Read more
In an apparent attempt to taint the remaining vegetables that haven’t been Daily Mail-ized, some of the popular media has turned against asparagus over the last few days. It turns out, asparagus gives you breast cancer! For once, some of the media also started fighting back, in an attempt to explain why the winter vegetable … Read more
Every woman who has ever opened a magazine knows her “shape”. “Pear shaped” women accumulate fat on their hips and thighs, “hourglass shaped” women do the same but also have large breasts, “ruler” women have broad shoulders and larger waists and “apple shaped” people accumulate their fat on their waists and guts. While obviously comparing … Read more