In Whales, a Long Life Absent Cancer Results from Superior DNA Repair Mechanisms (opens in new tab)

Cancer is a numbers game; mutations occur at some rate, and some of those mutations result in a cancerous cell. The more cells an individual has, the greater the risk of cancer, all other factors being equal. Of course those factors are not equal. For a physically large species to evolve to become physically large, it must also have evolved superior means of cancer suppression. As researchers explore the biochemistry of large and small mammals, from mice to whales, they are uncovering the mec...