Approximate number of driver mutations needed to cause cancer by area of the body

The results show the number of mutations driving cancer varies considerably across different cancer types. For the first time, scientists have provided unbiased estimates of the number of mutations needed for cancers to develop, in a study of more than 7,500 tumours across 29 cancer types. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators adapted a technique from the field of evolution to confirm that, on average, one to ten driver mutations are needed for cancer to emerge.

In the future, such approaches could be used in the clinic to identify which few mutations in an individual patient are driving his or her cancer, from amongst the thousands of mutations present...

Artist’s conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars. Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magnetic fields, white sparks are reconnection activity, and red lines are reconnected magnetic fields that link the surface to space via the Martian magnetotail. Credit: Anil Rao/Univ. of Colorado/MAVEN/NASA GSFC

Mars has an invisible magnetic “tail” that is twisted by interaction with the solar wind, according to new research using data from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft...

This is the first material with conductivity properties that can be switched on and off using ferroelectric polarization. Credit: Thor Balkhed

Ferroelectric self-assembled molecular materials. Scientists have developed the first material with conductivity properties that can be switched on and off using ferroelectric polarization. Professor Martijn Kemerink of Linköping University has worked with colleagues in Spain and the Netherlands to develop the first material with conductivity properties that can be switched on and off using ferroelectric polarisation. The phenomenon can be used for small and flexible digital memories of the future, and for completely new types of solar cells.

The research group shows the phenomenon in action in three specially built molecules, and proposes a model ...