I think it’s a very natural think for Microsoft to be looking at because we have tremendous expertise in computer science and what is going on in cancer is a computational problem…It’s not just an analogy, it’s a deep mathematical insight. Biology and computing are disciplines which seem like chalk and cheese but which have very deep connections on the most fundamental level.
Those are the worlds from Chris Bishop, a representative of Microsoft reach, given to Sarah Knapton at The Telegraph.
They (Microsoft) recently gathered a team of computer scientists and biologists, which is something quite shocking because they’re not known for wondering far outside from electronics and computer research.
There is still lots to figure out, one team is already planing on using machine learning and computer vision (where computers glean information from images or videos to give radiologist a better understanding of how a specific patient’s tumour is progressing). They are also developing algorithms to predict the best way to approach a specific tumour types.
All of their approaches, according to Microsoft, follow information processing and machine learning, which are two similar computer science approaches.
One approach is rooted in the idea that cancer and other biological process are information processing systems….Using that approach the tools that are used to model and reason about computational processes, such as programming languages, compilers and model checkers, are used to model and reason about biological processes. (source)
You can read more about these developments on their website.
Anytime You Talk About Cancer, It’s Important To Raise Awareness About These Issues (Below)
It’s hard to believe that approximately one in every two people will develop some form of cancer within their lifetime. As a result, cancer awareness has skyrocketed. Millions of people around the globe are helping to raise money and awareness for cancer and cancer treatment. This overwhelming support from the public just goes to show how many good hearts are out there, and in no way should we dismiss that generous spirit. There are, however, some important facts relating to this disease about which many people are still unaware.
While it is of course disturbing that cancer rates are at all time time high, the prevalence of this disease is causing people to take notice and to question, which is always a good thing. People are becoming more aware of the disease, looking into alternative treatment options and trying to determine the cause of this illness. People are starting to wonder why so many of us are so sick. So despite how gloomy it may appear, there is hope for all of us.
1. Questionable Cancer Research/Fraud
Linus Pauling, Ph.D, and two time Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, has revealed: “Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them.” (source)(source)
He is considered one of the most important scientists in history. He is one of the founders of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, and was also a well known peace activist. He was invited to be in charge of the Chemistry Division of the Manhattan Project, but refused. He has also done a lot of work on military applications, and has pretty much done and seen it all in the scientific field, so his words are not to be taken lightly.
And it’s not just Pauling making these kinds of statements. Many other well respected scientists, who are definitely in a position to know about this type of thing, have made similar statements. For example, Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and longtime Editor in Chief of the New England Medical Journal (NEMJ), which is considered to be one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, said that:
It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal Of Medicine. (source)
Dr. Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of another one of the world’s most best known medical journals,The Lancet, recently published a statement expressing that a large quantity of published peer-reviewed science is actually completely false. He revealed:
The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. (source)
A lot of the ‘credible’ research out there has been supported and funded by the pharmaceutical companies themselves, and much of it conflicts with the work of independent scientists from all over the world.
The field of U.S. cancer care is organized around a medical monopoly that ensures a continuous flow of money to the pharmaceutical companies, medical technology firms, research institutes, and government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and quasi-public organizations such as the American Cancer Society (ACS). – Ralph Moss, Ph.D., quoted by John Diamond, M.D., & Lee Cowden, M.D. in Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide to Cancer
2. People Are Actually Having Success With Alternative Treatments
A growing trend amongst people who have been diagnosed with cancer is to seek out alternative treatment, and this is largely because so many people have reported solid success rates. We can also attribute this shift to the vast amount of published scientific literature pointing people in this direction. For example, here is a quick video clip of Dr. Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist who explains the power of THC. Other ingredients within cannabis have also been shown to annihilate cancer tumours. Here is an older article with just a few out of hundreds of studies sourced, just to give you an idea. It’s worrying that no human clinical trials have been conducted on the use of cannabis to treat cancer, despite the fact that scientists have known for decades that it is effective.
Mykala Comstock is a wonderful example of cannabis’ efficacy; she had T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a very rare and aggressive form of childhood leukaemia. In July of 2012, doctors discovered a basketball-sized mass of lymphoblasts in her chest. Her mass was so large that she was not able to be sedated for risk of death from the pressure on her esophagus and heart.
More people are to turning to other herbal remedies as well. Research has shown that artemisinin, found in various plants, can also kill cancer cells.
Dietary changes are also taking a more prominent role in alternative cancer treatment. Chris Wark, a man who had stage 3 colon cancer, credits his recovery to a vegan diet.
The point is, these stories are out there, and so is the science to back them up. It makes you wonder why these aren’t considered mainstream treatment suggestions? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that these treatments cannot be patented?
There are only two approved treatments for cancer — radiation and chemotherapy.
3. Our Toxic Environment
“How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?” –Jane Goodall
Billions of pounds of toxic chemicals are sprayed on our food and in the environment every single year. We’re talking about organophosphates, chemicals that were used to kill people in warfare during WW2. After decades of spraying, a number of alarming studies have been published which lead to many of these chemicals being completely banned.
Children today are sicker than they were a generation ago. From childhood cancers to autism, birth defects and asthma, a wide range of childhood diseases and disorders are on the rise. Our assessment of the latest science leaves little room for doubt; pesticides are one key driver of this sobering trend. – October 2012 report by Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) (source)(source)
Yet only recently did the World Health Organization admit that glyphosate, the most active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, can cause cancer. (source) A number of countries around the world have also banned glyphosate. Sri Lanka, for example, decided to completely ban itafter their scientists discovered that it was linked to chronic kidney disease. (source)(source) It has also been completely banned in various countries across Europe.
As far as pesticide accumulation in the body goes, a recent study conducted by researchers from RMIT university, published in the journal Environmental Research, found that an organic diet for just one week significantly reduced pesticide exposure in adults by 90 percent. (source)
Cynthia Curl, an assistant professor in the School of Allied Health Sciences Department of Community and Environmental Health at Boise State University, recently published a pesticide exposure study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Results of her research indicated that among individuals eating similar amounts of vegetables and fruits, the ones who reported eating organic produce had significantly lower OP pesticide exposure than those who normally consume conventionally grown produce.
These studies are important because the pesticides sprayed on our food are also very toxic and have been linked to a number of diseases, like cancer. Why are we consuming chemicals that were used to kill people in warfare? How can we possibly justify such irresponsible behaviour?
And the problem extends further than simply what is being put on our food. Our food itself has been genetically modified by biotech companies, to the point where it bears little resemblance to its natural form, and is equally unrecognizable by our bodies. These companies incorporate genes from one species into a completely unrelated species. (source) This, according to many, is bad science.
The problem is this, geneticists follow the inheritance of genes in what we call a vertical fashion … within a species. What biotechnology allows us to do is to take genes from this organism and move it in what we call horizontally into a totally unrelated species…. What biotechnology allows us to do is to switch genes from one to the other without regard for the biological constraints…. It’s very very bad science. We assume that the principles governing the inheritance of genes vertically applies when you move genes laterally or horizontally. There’s absolutely no reason to make that conclusion. – David Suzuki, geneticist, activist, and environmentalist (source)
Furthermore, no studies have been cited by global health authorities which prove the longterm safety of GMOs on our health. This is not good science, and we know for a fact that GMOs are harmful to other animals which we have tested them on. For example, the chronic toxicity study examined the health impacts of eating commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize, alongside Monsanto’s NK603 glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, on rats.The study found severe liver and kidney damage as well as hormonal disturbances in rats fed with GM maize in conjunction with low levels of Roundup — levels which were below those permitted in most drinking water across Europe. Results also indicated high rates of large tumors and mortality in most treatment groups. (source)
You can read more about that here.
Other studies have found issues with GM foods and pesticides appearing in maternal and fetal blood.
As part of the process, they portrayed the various concerns as merely the ignorant opinions of misinformed individuals – and derided them as not only unscientific, but anti-science. They then set to work to convince the public and government officials, through the dissemination of false information, that there was an overwhelming expert consensus, based on solid evidence, that GMOs were safe. – Jane Goodall (source)
These examples barely even scratch the surface of carcinogens we are exposed to. Cosmetics, flame retardants, everyday household products — these are all a concern. It’s not a mystery why cancer rates are so high, but we never really talk about the issue in this way. Waster fluoridation is another example. Fluoride was recently categorized officially as a neurotoxin.
In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer deaths than any other chemical. When you have power you don’t have to tell the truth. That’s a rule that’s been working in this world for generations. There are a great many people who don’t tell the truth when they are in power in administrative positions. This amounts to public murder on a grand scale, it is a public crime. … It is some of the most conclusive bits of scientific and biological evidence that I have come across in my 50 years in the field of cancer research. (source) – Dr. Dean Burk, Biochemist, Founder of Biotin, and Former Chief Chemist at the National Cancer Institute of Heal
4. Cancer Charity Fraud
The Brooklyn-based National Children’s Leukemia Foundation has been shut down. This comes years after they raised millions of dollars through professionally run fundraisers. They lured people in, claiming that the funds would be used to conduct cancer research and locate bone marrow donors, while they ran their “Make a Dream Come True” campaign. (source)(source)
This is disturbing information, but it’s not the first time that a major cancer charity has been called into question, not by a long shot. For example, a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission describes four connected groups, all with cancer in their name, as “sham charities,” saying they instead “operated as personal fiefdoms characterized by rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, and excessive insider compensation.” One of those names was the Cancer Fund of America Inc. These groups stand accused of taking in almost 200 million dollars. (source)
You can read more about that here .
5. Cancer Prevention
It’s remarkable how much time we spend raising money for cancer treatment without ever speaking about cancer prevention. With out toxic environment, there are a number of things you can do to minimize your risk of developing cancer.
So what can you do? Stop buying household cleaning products with toxic, carcinogenic chemicals. Do your research, ask around. Stop eating foods that are sprayed with pesticides, or at least properly soak and clean your fruits and vegetables for a decent amount of time before consuming them. Indeed, eat more fruits and vegetables to begin with. Exercise more, engage in activities/experiences that make you feel good and bring you joy — these are all simple steps we can take to show our bodies the love they deserve.
Again, I would emphasize diet, as a lot of what we are put into our bodies on a weekly basis isn’t healthy at all.
For example…
“Studies are confirming the health benefits of meat-free eating. Nowadays, plant-based eating is recognized as not only nutritionally sufficient but also as a way to reduce the risk for many chronic illnesses.” – Harvard Medical School (source)