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Asked by anon-328951 on 29 Jun 2022.
Question: What causes cancer?
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Karin Purshouse answered on 24 Jun 2022:
Cancer is caused by a genetic mutation in a cell that allows it to grow and multiply in an abnormal way, eventually causing a cancer.
What causes that – well we know there are certain risk factors, anything that increases the chance of these genetic mutations. Ones we know about include age, smoking, radiation, excess alcohol, certain chemicals. A small proportion of cancers are inherited (5-10%). But there are also many cancers that seem to happen despite these risk factors not being present. Ultimately the cells in the body make genetic mistakes all the time, and amazingly, the body is able to find these mistakes most of the time and get rid of these cells. Cancer essentially happens when a cell with mistakes is able to elude these defence mechanisms. A lot of research is spent trying to make sense of this!
Comments
anon-331961 commented on :
how to pass chem gcse
Karin commented on :
I start by checking I know what I’m supposed to know i.e. the topic titles/content – so I know the ‘edges of the problem’ so to speak! Then it’s just a case of being organised.
Everyone revises differently, and teachers know this better than anyone – so they will have loads of revision tips! Things that work for me include mixing up desk notes with rhymes, drawings, sometimes even doing a dance! When I was at medical school I made up a dance routine for the childhood developmental milestones because I just couldn’t get them in my head any other way. I also like revising with other people sometimes, taking tips from them. Sometimes I will sit in an exam and think ‘wow, I know the answer to that because I remember *insert friend’s name here* mentioning it’. I had a teacher at school who taught us to do a sort of ‘memory walk’ where you revise a topic and associate things you see with facts so you can ‘walk through a story’ in your exam.
The great thing for GCSEs (which I massively did not appreciate at the time) is there are loads of great resources out their specifically geared for these exams – BBC bitesize springs to mind, but again your teachers will know the best ones.
Sorry that’s a long answer but I think revision can seem really daunting, and all of us on the science team can understand having gone through it ourselves. You can do it!