What Science Knows About Cancer

As you investigate why cancer is a growing problem in the United States and across the globe, explore the burden cancer places on society as a whole - both to people and the economy - and look at some of the most common forms of the disease. See why, surprisingly, cancer doesn't rank on the Global Burden of Disease Study.

What do population studies tell us about the causes of cancer? Define the science of epidemiology and learn how it can be used to study cancer in both populations and individuals. Differentiate between case-control and cohort studies, and the categories of risk factors for cancer.

Continue exploring epidemiology by delving into environmental causes of cancer that have emerged from studies, including tobacco, diet, a woman's reproductive status, medications, pesticides, radiation, and even your personality. How does giving birth later in life make you more vulnerable to breast cancer? Is the average person's exposure to pesticides really dangerous? Find out here.

Take the first steps in understanding the multistage model of cancer by learning how various agents initiate cancer at the genetic level. Explore the fundamentals of DNA as genetic material, the process by which DNA is expressed and duplicated, and the ways this process of duplication can go awry, causing cell mutations to accumulate.

Two types of carcinogens mutate DNA: chemicals and radiation. Build on what you've learned about DNA by looking specifically at how these carcinogens produce cancer at the cellular level. Then, examine carcinogens that don't damage DNA and how epigenetic changes in DNA can result in cancer.