• Question: Do you think that in the future there will be a cure for cancer also how many years do you recon earth will be around i read your comments and do you think you wil find a cure for parkinsons

    Asked by leebennett to Fiona, Jane, Joanna, Michelle, William on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by rayrobinson95, st3schulz, connorh, mollieandchloe, jessicasmith, spacepenguin007.
    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      This is a popular question and I imagine we all know someone affected by cancer so I will do my best to answer it. The death rate from cancers has fallen by 11% in the last 10 years so we are getting somewhere. The important thing is getting people to recognise it early and get treatment. There are lots of people working all over the world on trying to find cures for the many different types of cancer. Making medicines takes approximately 12 years from discovery to testing to being prescribed by doctors so it may still take a while but hopefully treatments will get better. We must always have hope that things will get better and discoveries will be made.

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I hope one day there will be a cure for cancer-when you see how much better the treatments have got in the last 20 years there is definitely hope. I hope the Earth will be around for a long time-it is a pretty fascinating place so it would be a shame to lose it.

    • Photo: Jane Henry

      Jane Henry answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      There are many different cancers which respond to different treatments. I expect us to continue finding new ways of dealing with the various cancers, some of which already have much better treatment outcomes than others. However I would not be surprised if other diseases emerge that are just a s challenging to research. I expect a cure for Parkinsons and I imagine the earth will be around for billions of years, long after people have disappeared.

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hey, good question. Yes, I think there will be a cure for cancer! Developments have already been made in fact; I mentioned in another answer that my husband is a physicist and his team recently designed a type of laser that works to kill cancer cells without the need for any invasive treatment! There is also a newly developing, quite revolutionary technique called ‘optogenetics’ which uses lasers to turn cells in the human brain on and off! The researchers involved in this are hoping to use this technique with human Parkinson patients in the next 10 years. They have already found that they can turn unresponsive cells back on in rodents with Parkinsons! How great is that?!

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