- All articles

All articles

- Special Episode: Olivia Weisser & The Dreaded Pox: 2026 May 12

- Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof: 2026 Apr 21

- Episode 205 Cancer Part 4: Where do things stand today?: 2026 Mar 31

- Episode 204 Cancer Part 3: How do we treat it?: 2026 Mar 24

- Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance: 2026 Mar 17

- Episode 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?: 2026 Mar 10

MAY 12, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Olivia Weisser & The Dreaded Pox

In a time when smallpox, tuberculosis, measles, and typhus ran rampant through the streets of London, there was another disease that instilled even more fear than these other killers: syphilis. So feared and so stigmatized was syphilis that it was sometimes called “the secret disease.” A diagnosis would not only sentence you to a drawn-out and painful illness possibly resulting in death, it also labeled you as an outcast and not fit for polite company. Skyrocketing infection rates drove a corresponding rise in syphilis “cures” and an increasingly desperate public. In this TPWKY book club episode, Dr. Olivia Weisser, associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston joins me to discuss her recent book The Dreaded Pox: Sex and Disease in Early Modern London. She transports readers to the hidden shops and stalls that promised a remedy to this feared disease, to the courthouses where a syphilis infection was an important piece of evidence, and to the country houses that held recipe books for those who could not purchase a cure. Tune in for a fascinating glimpse into a time and place where morality, sex, and disease were so strongly entangled.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

APR 21, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof

Why do we believe what we believe? Is what we believe the truth? How can we convince others of our beliefs? If you’ve ever found yourself pondering these questions, you know that the answers are rarely clear-cut. We need to form beliefs in order to navigate the world, but how skilled are we at evaluating evidence for those beliefs or weighing new data that contradicts them? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Adam Kucharski, Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine joins me to discuss latest book, Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty. With this book, Dr. Kucharski presents a compelling and thoughtful examination of the concept of proof, delving into topics ranging from the justice system (what’s a reasonable doubt?) to infectious disease, clinical design to the founding of this country. And he leaves us with a powerful lesson: what convinced you of something might not convince someone else. Tune in for a fascinating conversation!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

MAR 31, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 205 Cancer Part 4: Where do things stand today?

For the entirety of our species’ history, our approach to cancer has largely been to react, to design new therapies and better combinations of treatments. This energy has certainly been well-spent, but what if we didn’t have to use treatment at all? Or what if we could minimize the use of aggressive therapies? Prevention and screening represent two under-appreciated pillars of cancer care, and we’re using this final installment in our cancer miniseries to show some appreciation. To grasp the impact that screening and prevention can have, we also need to consider the global landscape of cancer prevalence and incidence – where is it decreasing? Where is it on the rise? Where can intervention or prevention make an impact? As we’ve shown over these four episodes, science and medicine has accumulated a wealth of information about cancer – but the striking racial and socioeconomic disparities in cancer incidence and mortality in the US and around the world demonstrates that that knowledge has not been applied equally. Any proposal to reduce the global cancer burden must address the systemic issues driving these disparities. Tune in for a thought-provoking reflection on the status of cancer today.

History

- Mukherjee, Siddhartha. The emperor of all maladies: a biography of cancer. Simon and Schuster, 2010.

- Ahmad, Amar S., Nick Ormiston-Smith, and Peter D. Sasieni. “Trends in the lifetime risk of developing cancer in Great Britain: comparison of risk for those born from 1930 to 1960.” British journal of cancer 112.5 (2015): 943-947.

- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2025. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2025.

- Bailar, John C., and Heather L. Gornik. “Cancer undefeated.” New England Journal of Medicine 336.22 (1997): 1569-1574.

- Faguet, Guy B. “A brief history of cancer: age‐old milestones underlying our current knowledge database.” International journal of cancer 136.9 (2015): 2022-2036.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “Pathfinders in oncology from ancient times to the end of the Middle Ages.” Cancer 122.11 (2016): 1638-1646.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 3.” Cancer 118.4 (2012): 1155-1168.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 4.” Cancer 118.20 (2012): 4914-4928.

- Hajdu, Steven I., and Farbod Darvishian. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 5.” Cancer 119.8 (2013): 1450-1466.

- Hajdu, Steven I., and Manjunath Vadmal. “A note from history: Landmarks in history of cancer, Part 6.” Cancer 119.23 (2013): 4058-4082.

- Hajdu, Steven I., Manjunath Vadmal, and Ping Tang. “A note from history: Landmarks in history of cancer, part 7.” Cancer 121.15 (2015): 2480-2513.

- Smedley, Brian D., and M. Alfred Haynes, eds. “The unequal burden of cancer: an assessment of NIH research and programs for ethnic minorities and the medically underserved.” (1999).

- American Cancer Society, Known and Probable Human Carcinogens. August 1, 2024. Accessed Jan 16, 2026.

- Andermann, Anne, et al. “Revisiting Wilson and Jungner in the genomic age: a review of screening criteria over the past 40 years.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 86.4 (2008): 317-319.

- Benmoussa, Nadia, et al. “Chimney-sweeps’ cancer—early proof of environmentally driven tumourigenicity.” The Lancet Oncology 20.3 (2019): 338.

- Bode, Ann M., and Zigang Dong. “Cancer prevention research—then and now.” Nature Reviews Cancer 9.7 (2009): 508-516.

- Brown, John R., and John L. Thornton. “Percivall Pott (1714-1788) and chimney sweepers’ cancer of the scrotum.” British journal of industrial medicine 14.1 (1957): 68.

- Cairns, John. “The treatment of diseases and the war against cancer.” Scientific American 253.5 (1985): 51-59.

- Croswell, Jennifer M., David F. Ransohoff, and Barnett S. Kramer. “Principles of cancer screening: lessons from history and study design issues.” Seminars in oncology. Vol. 37. No. 3. WB Saunders, 2010.

- Doll, Richard, and A. Bradford Hill. “Lung cancer and other causes of death in relation to smoking.” British medical journal 2.5001 (1956): 1071.

- Doll, Sir Richard. “The epidemiology of cancer.” Cancer 45.10 (1980): 2475-2485.

- Fisher, Ronald. “Cigarettes, cancer, and statistics.” The Centennial Review of Arts & Science 2 (1958): 151-166.

- Garfinkel, Lawrence. “Trends in cigarette smoking in the United States.” Preventive medicine 26.4 (1997): 447-450.

- Gold, Richard H., Lawrence W. Bassett, and Bobbi E. Widoff. “Highlights from the history of mammography.” Radiographics 10.6 (1990): 1111-1131.

- Greenwald, Peter, and Barbara K. Dunn. “Landmarks in the history of cancer epidemiology.” Cancer research 69.6 (2009): 2151-2162.

- Islami, Farhad, et al. “American Cancer Society’s Report on the Status of Cancer Disparities in the United States, 2025.” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 76.1 (2026): e70045.

- Islami, Farhad, et al. “American Cancer Society’s report on the status of cancer disparities in the United States, 2021.” CA: a cancer journal for clinicians 72.2 (2022): 112-143.

- Jeon, Jihyoun, et al. “Smoking and lung cancer mortality in the United States from 2015 to 2065: a comparative modeling approach.” Annals of internal medicine 169.10 (2018): 684-693.

- Kipling, M. D., and H. A. Waldron. “Percivall Pott and cancer scroti.” British journal of industrial medicine 32.3 (1975): 244.

- Linet, Martha S. “Evolution of cancer epidemiology.” Epidemiologic reviews 22.1 (2000): 35-56.

- Mattiuzzi, Camilla, and Giuseppe Lippi. “Current cancer epidemiology.” Journal of epidemiology and global health 9.4 (2019): 217-222.

- Proctor, Robert N. “The history of the discovery of the cigarette–lung cancer link: evidentiary traditions, corporate denial, global toll.” Tobacco control 21.2 (2012): 87-91.

- Schwartz, Stephen M. “Epidemiology of cancer.” Clinical chemistry 70.1 (2024): 140-149.

- Schottenfeld, David. “The epidemiology of cancer: an overview.” Cancer 47.S5 (1981): 1095-1108.

- Sharma, Divakar, Thomas G. Newman, and Wilbert Aronow. “Lung cancer screening: history, current perspectives, and future directions.” Archives of Medical Science 11.5 (2015): 1033-1043.

- Swanson, Amy A., and Liron Pantanowitz. “The evolution of cervical cancer screening.” Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology 13.1 (2024): 10-15.

- Vilos, George A. “The history of the Papanicolaou smear and the odyssey of George and Andromache Papanicolaou.” Obstetrics & Gynecology 91.3 (1998): 479-483.

- Winawer, Sidney J. “The history of colorectal cancer screening: a personal perspective.” Digestive diseases and sciences 60.3 (2015): 596-608.

- Wong, Yide, et al. “Estimating the global burden of Epstein–Barr virus-related cancers.” Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology 148.1 (2022): 31-46.

Biology

- Sherman, R.L., Firth, A.U., Henley, S.J., Siegel, R.L., Negoita, S., Sung, H., Kohler, B.A., Anderson, R.N., Cucinelli, J., Scott, S. and Benard, V.B., 2025. Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, featuring state‐level statistics after the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Cancer, 131(9), p.e35833.

- Islami, F., Arias, G., Lee, D., Wiese, D., Baeker Bispo, J., Yabroff, K.R., Siegel, R.L., Bandi, P., Nargis, N., Patel, A.V. and Thienprayoon, P.P., 2026. American Cancer Society’s Report on the Status of Cancer Disparities in the United States, 2025. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 76(1), p.e70045.

- Force, L.M., Kocarnik, J.M., May, M.L., Bhangdia, K., Crist, A., Penberthy, L., Pritchett, N., Acheson, A., Deitesfeld, L., Aalruz, H. and Abbas, N., 2025. The global, regional, and national burden of cancer, 1990–2023, with forecasts to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. The Lancet, 406(10512), pp.1565-1586.

- Tran, K.B., Lang, J.J., Compton, K., Xu, R., Acheson, A.R., Henrikson, H.J., Kocarnik, J.M., Penberthy, L., Aali, A., Abbas, Q. and Abbasi, B., 2022. The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010–19: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 400(10352), pp.563-591.

- Bauer, C., Zhang, K., Xiao, Q., Lu, J., Hong, Y.R. and Suk, R., 2022. County-level social vulnerability and breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates in the US, 2018. JAMA Network Open, 5(9), pp.e2233429-e2233429.

- NCI Surveillence, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. https://seer.cancer.gov/statistics-network/explorer/application.html?site=1&data_type=1&graph_type=2&compareBy=sex&chk_sex_3=3&chk_sex_2=2&rate_type=2&race=1&age_range=1&hdn_stage=101&advopt_precision=1&advopt_show_ci=on#resultsRegion0

- https://nccrexplorer.ccdi.cancer.gov/

- NCI Surveillence, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. Cancer Stat Facts: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/

- Global Cancer Observatory: https://gco.iarc.fr/en

- Duffy, S.W. and Offman, J., 2026. A guide to cancer screening. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, pp.1-12.

- Agbedinu, K., Antwi, S., Aduse-Poku, L., Akakpo, P.K., Larrious-Lartey, H., Ofori Aboah, V., Mensah, S., Nyarko, V., Amponsah-Manu, F., Nsaful, J. and Dampson, R., 2025. A Scoping Review on Barriers to Cancer Diagnosis and Care in Low-and Middle-Income Countries. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 34(7), pp.1066-1073.

- Wan, J.C., Sasieni, P. and Rosenfeld, N., 2025. Promises and pitfalls of multi-cancer early detection using liquid biopsy tests. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, pp.1-15.

- Chung, D.C., Gray, D.M., Singh, H., Issaka, R.B., Raymond, V.M., Eagle, C., Hu, S., Chudova, D.I., Talasaz, A., Greenson, J.K. and Sinicrope, F.A., 2024. A cell-free DNA blood-based test for colorectal cancer screening. New England Journal of Medicine, 390(11), pp.973-983.

- Bleyer, A., Barr, R., Hayes-Lattin, B., Thomas, D., Ellis, C., Anderson, B. and Biology and Clinical Trials Subgroups of the US National Cancer Institute Progress Review Group in Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 2008. The distinctive biology of cancer in adolescents and young adults. Nature Reviews Cancer, 8(4), pp.288-298.

- Boucai, L., Zafereo, M. and Cabanillas, M.E., 2024. Thyroid cancer: a review. Jama, 331(5), pp.425-435.

- Caruso, G., Weroha, S.J. and Cliby, W., 2025. Ovarian cancer: a review. Jama.

- Perkins, R.B., Wentzensen, N., Guido, R.S. and Schiffman, M., 2023. Cervical cancer screening: a review. Jama, 330(6), pp.547-558.

- Waks, A.G. and Winer, E.P., 2019. Breast cancer treatment: a review. Jama, 321(3), pp.288-300.

- Biller, L.H. and Schrag, D., 2021. Diagnosis and treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: a review. Jama, 325(7), pp.669-685.

- Koh, B., Tan, D.J.H., Ng, C.H., Fu, C.E., Lim, W.H., Zeng, R.W., Yong, J.N., Koh, J.H., Syn, N., Meng, W. and Wijarnpreecha, K., 2023. Patterns in cancer incidence among people younger than 50 years in the US, 2010 to 2019. JAMA network open, 6(8), pp.e2328171-e2328171.

- Brennan, P. and Davey-Smith, G., 2022. Identifying novel causes of cancers to enhance cancer prevention: new strategies are needed. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 114(3), pp.353-360.

- White, A., Ironmonger, L., Steele, R.J., Ormiston-Smith, N., Crawford, C. and Seims, A., 2018. A review of sex-related differences in colorectal cancer incidence, screening uptake, routes to diagnosis, cancer stage and survival in the UK. BMC cancer, 18(1), p.906.

- Schlossberg. Nov 2025. A battle with my blood. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/a-battle-with-my-blood

- Sung, H., Siegel, R.L., Rosenberg, P.S. and Jemal, A., 2019. Emerging cancer trends among young adults in the USA: analysis of a population-based cancer registry. The Lancet Public Health, 4(3), pp.e137-e147.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

MAR 24, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 204 Cancer Part 3: How do we treat it?

A century and a half ago, the list of effective cancer treatments was essentially a single entry: surgery. Today, in 2026, you’d need pages to contain the number of treatments available, and multiple notebooks to delineate all of the various therapies currently in development. It is nothing short of a revolution. Of course, no revolution is perfect, and many cancer treatments are ineffective or carry risks of serious side effects. In part 3 of our cancer series, we delve into all facets of cancer treatment, from the history of their development to how they actually work. Tune in to learn how far we’ve come and where we might go from here in our perennial quest to treat and cure cancer.

History

- Mukherjee, Siddhartha. The emperor of all maladies: a biography of cancer. Simon and Schuster, 2010.

- Ahmad, Amar S., Nick Ormiston-Smith, and Peter D. Sasieni. “Trends in the lifetime risk of developing cancer in Great Britain: comparison of risk for those born from 1930 to 1960.” British journal of cancer 112.5 (2015): 943-947.

- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2025. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2025.

- Bailar, John C., and Heather L. Gornik. “Cancer undefeated.” New England Journal of Medicine 336.22 (1997): 1569-1574.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “Pathfinders in oncology from ancient times to the end of the Middle Ages.” Cancer 122.11 (2016): 1638-1646.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 1.” Cancer 117.5 (2011): 1097-1102.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 2.” Cancer 117.12 (2011): 2811-2820.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 3.” Cancer 118.4 (2012): 1155-1168.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 4.” Cancer 118.20 (2012): 4914-4928.

- Hajdu, Steven I., and Farbod Darvishian. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 5.” Cancer 119.8 (2013): 1450-1466.

- Hajdu, Steven I., and Manjunath Vadmal. “A note from history: Landmarks in history of cancer, Part 6.” Cancer 119.23 (2013): 4058-4082.

- Hajdu, Steven I., Manjunath Vadmal, and Ping Tang. “A note from history: Landmarks in history of cancer, part 7.” Cancer 121.15 (2015): 2480-2513.

- Kampen, Kim R. “The discovery and early understanding of leukemia.” Leukemia research 36.1 (2012): 6-13.

- Abshire, Dorothy, and Matthew K. Lang. “The evolution of radiation therapy in treating cancer.” Seminars in oncology nursing. Vol. 34. No. 2. WB Saunders, 2018.

- Connell, Philip P., and Samuel Hellman. “Advances in radiotherapy and implications for the next century: a historical perspective.” Cancer research 69.2 (2009): 383-392.

- Cooper, William A. “The history of the radical mastectomy.” Annals of medical history 3.1 (1941): 36.

- Debela, Dejene Tolossa, et al. “New approaches and procedures for cancer treatment: Current perspectives.” SAGE open medicine 9 (2021): 20503121211034366.

- DeVita Jr, Vincent T., and Edward Chu. “A history of cancer chemotherapy.” Cancer research 68.21 (2008): 8643-8653.

- Dobosz, Paula, and Tomasz Dzieciątkowski. “The intriguing history of cancer immunotherapy.” Frontiers in immunology 10 (2019): 2965.

- Galmarini, Darío, Carlos M. Galmarini, and Felipe C. Galmarini. “Cancer chemotherapy: a critical analysis of its 60 years of history.” Critical reviews in oncology/hematology 84.2 (2012): 181-199.

- Hayter, Charles RR. “The clinic as laboratory: The case of radiation therapy, 1896-1920.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 72.4 (1998): 663-688.

- Lawrence, Walter, and Marvin J. Lopez. “Radical surgery for cancer: a historical perspective.” Surgical Oncology Clinics 14.3 (2005): 441-446.

- Leszczynski, Konrad, and Susan Boyko. “On the controversies surrounding the origins of radiation therapy.” Radiotherapy and oncology 42.3 (1997): 213-217.

- Sakorafas, G. H., and Michael Safioleas. “Breast cancer surgery: an historical narrative. Part II. 18th and 19th centuries.” European journal of cancer care 19.1 (2010): 6-29.

- Sakorafas, G. H., and Michael Safioleas. “Breast cancer surgery: an historical narrative. Part III. From the sunset of the 19th to the dawn of the 21st century.” European Journal of Cancer Care 19.2 (2010): 145-166.

- Schaue, Dörthe. “A century of radiation therapy and adaptive immunity.” Frontiers in immunology 8 (2017): 431.

- Widder, Joachim. “The origins of radiotherapy: Discovery of biological effects of X-rays by Freund in 1897, Kienböck’s crucial experiments in 1900, and still it is the dose.” Radiotherapy and Oncology 112.1 (2014): 150-152.

- Wyld, Lynda, Riccardo A. Audisio, and Graeme J. Poston. “The evolution of cancer surgery and future perspectives.” Nature reviews Clinical oncology 12.2 (2015): 115-124.

Biology

- Mellman, I., Coukos, G. and Dranoff, G., 2011. Cancer immunotherapy comes of age. Nature, 480(7378), pp.480-489.

- Patel, K.K., Tariveranmoshabad, M., Kadu, S., Shobaki, N. and June, C., 2025. From concept to cure: The evolution of CAR-T cell therapy. Molecular Therapy, 33(5), pp.2123-2140.

- Choucair, K., Imtiaz, H., Uddin, M.H., Nagasaka, M., Al-Hallak, M.N., Philip, P.A., El-Rayes, B., Pasche, B.C. and Azmi, A.S., 2025. Targeting KRAS mutations: orchestrating cancer evolution and therapeutic challenges. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 10(1), p.385.

- Wu, P., Gao, W., Su, M., Nice, E.C., Zhang, W., Lin, J. and Xie, N., 2021. Adaptive mechanisms of tumor therapy resistance driven by tumor microenvironment. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 9, p.641469.

- Hanna, T.P., King, W.D., Thibodeau, S., Jalink, M., Paulin, G.A., Harvey-Jones, E., O’Sullivan, D.E., Booth, C.M., Sullivan, R. and Aggarwal, A., 2020. Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis. bmj, 371.

- Farkona, S., Diamandis, E.P. and Blasutig, I.M., 2016. Cancer immunotherapy: the beginning of the end of cancer?. BMC medicine, 14(1), p.73.

- Tsimberidou, A.M., Fountzilas, E., Nikanjam, M. and Kurzrock, R., 2020. Review of precision cancer medicine: Evolution of the treatment paradigm. Cancer treatment reviews, 86, p.102019.

- Debela, D.T., Muzazu, S.G., Heraro, K.D., Ndalama, M.T., Mesele, B.W., Haile, D.C., Kitui, S.K. and Manyazewal, T., 2021. New approaches and procedures for cancer treatment: Current perspectives. SAGE open medicine, 9, p.20503121211034366.

- Chandra, R.A., Keane, F.K., Voncken, F.E. and Thomas, C.R., 2021. Contemporary radiotherapy: present and future. The Lancet, 398(10295), pp.171-184.

- Taheri, A., Vishwanath, V., Wong, J.J., Price, P. and Rembielak, A., 2020. The use of imaging and interventional radiology in modern oncology. Medicine, 48(2), pp.73-78.

- Gatenby, R.A., Silva, A.S., Gillies, R.J. and Frieden, B.R., 2009. Adaptive therapy. Cancer research, 69(11), pp.4894-4903.

- Mukherjee, U.A., Hockings, H., Counsell, N., Patel, A., Narayanan, P., Wilkinson, K., Dhanda, H., Robinson, K., McNeish, I., Anderson, A.R. and Miller, R., 2024. Study protocol for Adaptive ChemoTherapy for Ovarian cancer (ACTOv): a multicentre phase II randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of adaptive therapy (AT) with carboplatin, based on changes in CA125, in patients with relapsed platinum-sensitive high-grade serous or high-grade endometrioid ovarian cancer. BMJ open, 14(12), p.e091262.

- Cappell, K.M. and Kochenderfer, J.N., 2023. Long-term outcomes following CAR T cell therapy: what we know so far. Nature reviews Clinical oncology, 20(6), pp.359-371.

- Kim, E., Brown, J.S., Eroglu, Z. and Anderson, A.R., 2021. Adaptive therapy for metastatic melanoma: predictions from patient calibrated mathematical models. Cancers, 13(4), p.823.

- Hockings, H., Lakatos, E., Huang, W., Mossner, M., Khan, M.A., Bakali, N., McDermott, J., Smith, K., Baker, A.M., Graham, T.A. and Lockley, M., 2025. Adaptive therapy exploits fitness deficits in chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer to achieve long-term tumor control. Cancer Research, 85(18), pp.3503-3517.

- Brady-Nicholls, R. and Enderling, H., 2022. Range-bounded adaptive therapy in metastatic prostate cancer. Cancers, 14(21), p.5319.

- Haroun, R., Wood, J.N. and Sikandar, S., 2023. Mechanisms of cancer pain. Frontiers in Pain Research, 3, p.1030899.

- Al Maqrashi, Z.A.A., Chan, S.W.S., Siddiqui, Z. and Dotan, E., 2025. Oncology: what you may have missed in 2024. Annals of internal medicine, 178(5), pp.S89-S109.

- Waks, A.G. and Winer, E.P., 2019. Breast cancer treatment: a review. Jama, 321(3), pp.288-300.

- Meng, Y., Zhang, Q., Wu, R., Li, H., Wang, Z., Yao, Y., Li, X., Chen, Z., Gong, Y. and Liu, H., 2024. Efficacy and safety of perioperative, neoadjuvant, or adjuvant immunotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, 16, p.17588359241284929.

- Guan, W.L., He, Y. and Xu, R.H., 2023. Gastric cancer treatment: recent progress and future perspectives. Journal of hematology & oncology, 16(1), p.57.

- Biller, L.H. and Schrag, D., 2021. Diagnosis and treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: a review. Jama, 325(7), pp.669-685.

- Farhangnia, P., Khorramdelazad, H., Nickho, H. and Delbandi, A.A., 2024. Current and future immunotherapeutic approaches in pancreatic cancer treatment. Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 17(1), p.40.

- Labrie, M., Brugge, J.S., Mills, G.B. and Zervantonakis, I.K., 2022. Therapy resistance: opportunities created by adaptive responses to targeted therapies in cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer, 22(6), pp.323-339.

- Taylor, S.R., Falcone, J.N., Cantley, L.C. and Goncalves, M.D., 2022. Developing dietary interventions as therapy for cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer, 22(8), pp.452-466.

- Sathianathen, N.J., Konety, B.R., Crook, J., Saad, F. and Lawrentschuk, N., 2018. Landmarks in prostate cancer. Nature Reviews Urology, 15(10), pp.627-642.

- Ro, C., The economic effects of federal cuts to US science-in 24 graphs. Nature.

- Nienaber, V. and Leeming, J., 2025. What research might be lost after the NIH’s cuts? Nature trained a bot to find out. Nature.

- Schlossberg. Nov 2025. A battle with my blood. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/a-battle-with-my-blood

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

MAR 17, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance

For centuries, physicians noticed that cancer sometimes ran in families, but until the 1960s, an answer to this mystery remained out of reach. Only then were scientists beginning to unlock the cellular dynamics underlying cancer, and what they found finally allowed grief-stricken families to put a name and explanation to their experience. It wasn’t simply bad luck. It was genetics: a heritable mutation in a key tumor suppressor gene that greatly increases the risk of developing cancer in your lifetime, a condition known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. Journalist Lawrence Ingrassia belongs to one of those families; he has lost his mother, three siblings, and a nephew to cancer. In this TPWKY book club episode, Ingrassia joins me to discuss his book A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery, where he weaves together his family’s story with that of the scientists who sought to uncover the cellular drivers of cancer. Tune in for a heartbreaking and inspiring journey.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

MAR 10, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?

Each of our cells can become cancerous. It’s an uncomfortable, yet unavoidable truth. Nor is it a truth restricted to our species – cancer is a consequence of complex life. The features that make a cell cancerous are those that, under other circumstances, are beneficial, essential even, for an individual’s growth and survival. How is that possible? In the second installment in our series, we’re putting cancer under the microscope to consider the qualities that underlie a cancer cell’s success in our body. By placing cancer in an evolutionary framework, we can not only understand why cancer is so darn prevalent, but we can also leverage that knowledge to devise new approaches to treatment – working with evolution rather than against it. If you’ve ever wondered why we haven’t come up with a cure for all cancer or why some animals get cancer more than others, this is the episode for you.

History

- Aktipis, Athena. The cheating cell: How evolution helps us understand and treat cancer. (2020): 1-256.

- Arney, Kat. Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life’s Oldest Betrayal. BenBella Books, 2020.

- Greaves, Melvyn F. Cancer: the evolutionary legacy. Oxford University Press, 2001.

- Ujvari, Beata, Benjamin Roche, and Frédéric Thomas, eds. Ecology and evolution of cancer. Academic Press, 2017.

- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2025. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2025.

- Hajdu, Steven I. “A note from history: landmarks in history of cancer, part 1.” Cancer 117.5 (2011): 1097-1102.

- Aktipis, C. Athena, and Randolph M. Nesse. “Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology.” Evolutionary applications 6.1 (2013): 144-159.

- Bianconi, Eva, et al. “An estimation of the number of cells in the human body.” Annals of human biology 40.6 (2013): 463-471.

- Caulin, Aleah F., and Carlo C. Maley. “Peto’s Paradox: evolution’s prescription for cancer prevention.” Trends in ecology & evolution 26.4 (2011): 175-182.

- Garcês, Andreia, Isabel Pires, and Sara Garcês. “Ancient diseases in vertebrates: Tumours through the ages.” Animals 14.10 (2024): 1474.

- Gatenby, Robert A., et al. “Adaptive therapy.” Cancer research 69.11 (2009): 4894-4903.

- Greaves, Mel, and Carlo C. Maley. “Clonal evolution in cancer.” Nature 481.7381 (2012): 306-313.

- Greaves, Mel. “Evolutionary determinants of cancer.” Cancer discovery 5.8 (2015): 806-820.

- Hockings, Helen, et al. “Adaptive therapy exploits fitness deficits in chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer to achieve long-term tumor control.” Cancer Research 85.18 (2025): 3503-3517.

- Lynch, Vincent J. “Peto’s paradox revisited (revisited, revisited, revisited, and revisited yet again).” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122.14 (2025): e2502696122.

- MacDonald, Nick, et al. “The molecular evolution of cancer associated genes in mammals.” Scientific Reports 14.1 (2024): 11650.

- Nikolaou, Michail, et al. “The challenge of drug resistance in cancer treatment: a current overview.” Clinical & Experimental Metastasis 35.4 (2018): 309-318.

- Rothschild, Bruce M., et al. “Epidemiologic study of tumors in dinosaurs.” Naturwissenschaften 90.11 (2003): 495-500.

- Shepard, Alyssa, and Joseph L. Kissil. “The use of non-traditional models in the study of cancer resistance—the case of the naked mole rat.” Oncogene 39.28 (2020): 5083-5097.

- Ujvari, Beata, et al. “Genetic diversity, inbreeding and cancer.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285.1875 (2018): 20172589.

- Valcz, Gábor, et al. “Adaptive cancer therapy: can non-genetic factors become its achilles heel?.” Oncogene (2025): 1-7.

- Vasan, Neil, José Baselga, and David M. Hyman. “A view on drug resistance in cancer.” Nature 575.7782 (2019): 299-309.

- Vincze, Orsolya, et al. “Cancer risk across mammals.” Nature 601.7892 (2022): 263-267.

- West, Jeffrey, et al. “Towards multidrug adaptive therapy.” Cancer research 80.7 (2020): 1578-1589.

- Zhang, Jingsong, et al. “Integrating evolutionary dynamics into treatment of metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.” Nature communications 8.1 (2017): 1816.

- Zhang, Lei, et al. “Adaptive therapy: a tumor therapy strategy based on darwinian evolution theory.” Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 192 (2023): 104192.

Biology

- Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R.A., 2000. The hallmarks of cancer. cell, 100(1), pp.57-70.

- Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R.A., 2011. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. cell, 144(5), pp.646-674.

- Hanahan, D., 2022. Hallmarks of cancer: new dimensions. Cancer discovery, 12(1), pp.31-46.

- Weinberg, R.A., 1996. How cancer arises. Scientific American, 275(3), pp.62-70.

- Lazebnik, Y., 2010. What are the hallmarks of cancer?. Nature Reviews Cancer, 10(4), pp.232-233.

- Swanton, C., Bernard, E., Abbosh, C., André, F., Auwerx, J., Balmain, A., Bar-Sagi, D., Bernards, R., Bullman, S., DeGregori, J. and Elliott, C., 2024. Embracing cancer complexity: Hallmarks of systemic disease. Cell, 187(7), pp.1589-1616.

- Sonnenschein, C. and Soto, A.M., 2011. The death of the cancer cell. Cancer research, 71(13), pp.4334-4337.

- Sonnenschein, C. and Soto, A.M., 2020. Over a century of cancer research: Inconvenient truths and promising leads. PLoS biology, 18(4), p.e3000670.

- Seferbekova, Z., Lomakin, A., Yates, L.R. and Gerstung, M., 2023. Spatial biology of cancer evolution. Nature Reviews Genetics, 24(5), pp.295-313.

- Savy, T., Flanders, L., Karpanasamy, T., Sun, M. and Gerlinger, M., 2025. Cancer evolution: from Darwin to the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. Trends in Cancer, 11(3), pp.204-215.

- Jones, P.A. and Baylin, S.B., 2007. The epigenomics of cancer. Cell, 128(4), pp.683-692.

- Gatenby, R.A., Avdieiev, S., Tsai, K.Y. and Brown, J.S., 2020. Integrating genetic and nongenetic drivers of somatic evolution during carcinogenesis: the biplane model. Evolutionary Applications, 13(7), pp.1651-1659.

- Tran, K.B., Lang, J.J., Compton, K., Xu, R., Acheson, A.R., Henrikson, H.J., Kocarnik, J.M., Penberthy, L., Aali, A., Abbas, Q. and Abbasi, B., 2022. The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010–19: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 400(10352), pp.563-591.

- Warren, G.W., Sobus, S. and Gritz, E.R., 2014. The biological and clinical effects of smoking by patients with cancer and strategies to implement evidence-based tobacco cessation support. The Lancet Oncology, 15(12), pp.e568-e580.

- Yoshida, K., Gowers, K.H., Lee-Six, H., Chandrasekharan, D.P., Coorens, T., Maughan, E.F., Beal, K., Menzies, A., Millar, F.R., Anderson, E. and Clarke, S.E., 2020. Tobacco smoking and somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelium. Nature, 578(7794), pp.266-272.

- Weng, M.W., Lee, H.W., Park, S.H., Hu, Y., Wang, H.T., Chen, L.C., Rom, W.N., Huang, W.C., Lepor, H., Wu, X.R. and Yang, C.S., 2018. Aldehydes are the predominant forces inducing DNA damage and inhibiting DNA repair in tobacco smoke carcinogenesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(27), pp.E6152-E6161.

- Lamabadusuriya, D.A., Jayasena, H., Bopitiya, A.K., De Silva, A.D. and Mmpt, J., 2025, July. Obesity-driven inflammation and cancer risk: A comprehensive review. In Seminars in cancer biology. Academic Press.

- Lim, P.W., Stucky, C.C.H., Wasif, N., Etzioni, D.A., Harold, K.L., Madura, J.A. and Fong, Z.V., 2024. Bariatric surgery and longitudinal cancer risk: a review. JAMA surgery, 159(3), pp.331-338.

- Morford, K.L., Tetrault, J.M. and O’Connor, P.G., 2025. Alcohol and cancer risk. JAMA, 334(10), pp.908-909.

- Jones, P.A. and Baylin, S.B., 2007. The epigenomics of cancer. Cell, 128(4), pp.683-692.

- Sepich-Poore, G.D., Zitvogel, L., Straussman, R., Hasty, J., Wargo, J.A. and Knight, R., 2021. The microbiome and human cancer. Science, 371(6536), p.eabc4552.

- McTiernan, A., 2008. Mechanisms linking physical activity with cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer, 8(3), pp.205-211.

- Kerr, J., Anderson, C. and Lippman, S.M., 2017. Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, diet, and cancer: an update and emerging new evidence. The Lancet Oncology, 18(8), pp.e457-e471.

- Li, F. and Simon, M.C., 2020. Cancer cells don’t live alone: metabolic communication within tumor microenvironments. Developmental cell, 54(2), pp.183-195.

- Wong, S.H. and Yu, J., 2019. Gut microbiota in colorectal cancer: mechanisms of action and clinical applications. Nature reviews Gastroenterology & hepatology, 16(11), pp.690-704.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on May 12, 2026 at 9:56 AM EDT.

Table of Contents

This Podcast Will Kill You: 2026 May 12

All articles

Special Episode: Olivia Weisser & The Dreaded Pox: 2026 May 12

Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof: 2026 Apr 21

Episode 205 Cancer Part 4: Where do things stand today?: 2026 Mar 31

Episode 204 Cancer Part 3: How do we treat it?: 2026 Mar 24

Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance: 2026 Mar 17

Episode 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?: 2026 Mar 10