So i guess this means that in the case of a nuclear war, cockroaches AND humans will survive. Researchers found a new drug after noticing that some cancer cells were resistant to radiation therapy, and managed to reproduce it into a drug that is currently working for mice and monkeys (trials in humans are planned).

Radiation is really just light (electromagnetic waves) of a very high energy, which has some very adverse effects on cells, triggering a suicide effect known as apoptosis. In fact this is why they use radiation, they want the cancer cells to do this and thereby being destroyed. The problem is though, that radiation is a cruel mistress and does not discriminate between healthy and cancerous cells, calling for the radiation to be very targeted so it only effects the cancer. This new drugs promises to temporarily make healthy cells resistant to the suicide effect, while the cancer cells will still die. Thought being that cancer patients can take this just before having a radiotherapy session.

The drug obviously has other uses that may be quite advantageous, such as protection against nuclear fallout, dirty bombs or KGB spies. Although i always get slightly suspicious when seemingly unrelated research finds some kind of military use as well, i always get the feeling that it’s a ploy to get research money (there seems to be a LOT of research money going to military stuff these days).

News from BBC
Abstract in Science Mag