• Question: How come u cannot cure cancer, but you can make all these different types of robots to do different things, but cant help children that's dying. And this question is directly pointed at you. Just a question that's been in my head, for years and thought this is the time to ask, because your a scientist.

    Asked by showercity to Bob, Katie, Nisha, Sallie, Vee on 27 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sallie Baxendale

      Sallie Baxendale answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Lots of scientists have been working on cures for cancer for years. The good news is that we CAN cure lots of kinds of cancer. Cancer is very, very complicated, because the body is going wrong at a very fundamental level. It’s really difficult to make sure we kill the bad cells but keep the good cells alive. That’s the challenge.

    • Photo: Vee Mitchell

      Vee Mitchell answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Robots are very easy to control – once someone had invented the device and the expertise to command it it doesn’t really change. If you tell a robot to pick up something at point A and put it down at point B then it will do it over and over and not make a mistake. Cancer on the other hand is very complexed as your normal cells in your own body have decided to do something they shouldn’t be doing. This means you are trying to target a cell in your body that is normally there just by its behaviour which makes it difficult to kill just the cancer cells and leave all the other cells alone.
      Scientists are finding that these cancer cells do have differences that distinguish them from other cells in you body. It’s like they have a profile on the surface of the cell which is distinct. They are trying to use that to let your own immune system find them and destroy them in the same way your body can destroy bacteria. It’s still early days but the treatment of cancer (which is already pretty good) will get better and better.

    • Photo: Bob Bonwick

      Bob Bonwick answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      This is a very good question. One that deserves a good answer. All cancers are genetic in origin, they are uncontrolled cell division without any regard for how they appear, react or interact. What I mean is that the cells that are cancerous are out of control by the body. Unlike every other heathy cell which is under control from the rest of the body, be it from the brain directly or indirectly.

      Cancer cells behave like a drunk person behind the wheel of a car. They have no idea where they are going, how fast they are going, they can’t apply the breaks and they are using up a lot of fuel, causing damage to everything around and we can’t get them out of the car. Not being able to get the person out of the car is the same as us not being able to remove just the cancerous cells. When we take a cancer out we have to take out healthy tissue too, we know it’s not going to kill the patient, but we know it’s not the best solution.

      Surgical removal of the cancer cuts risk to the patient. If it is left in, it will use up all of the body, invading different parts, using the bodys fuels and making that person weak and unable to fight. When we use drugs and radio therapy we are killing off the cells that might have been left, as we don’t know if we can get them all out easily. Cancer can spread fast, it can break into other organs other then the one it started in. It can travel round the blood, in the lymphatic system. It doesn’t care it’s doind damage, as far as the cancer cells know, they are not doing anything wrong, just like that drunk perosn in the car, driving without any regard for life.

      We are begining to understand Cancer better, we are getting better and spotting it, treating it and prolonging life of those suffering with it. But we cannot cure it completely. Some people have bad cancers, they are expected to live for a few years, but with modern treatment can life a full life, a long life. Others are not always as lucky.

      Some people are born with genes that make them more likely to have cancers, some people have genes that make them less likely. Gene therapy can, in some cases reverse the odds for those who are at risk. But we have the other problem that what kills the cancer, might also kill the patient. If you pour enough sugar into a tumour you will kill it, but not without killing the patient too. This is why we cannot, as yet, cure all cancers. We do not have the understanding, the drugs or the technology (YET) to do this.

      Robots are man made, controlable, stoppable, breakable. Cancer is of us, meaning that we are as fragile as it is, we are as aggressive as it is. If we are to beat it, we must not take ourselves with it. The answer my be found by future Scientists, maybe someone reading this or maybe they are yet to be born. Until then we must do what we can, work with what we have and win the small victories that we do.

Comments