Understanding the mechanisms that enable a few cancer cells to turn into a malignant tumor could help researchers understand and treat cancer more precisely. To assist, a team of researchers developed a 3D model of how cancer cells form a tumor—complete with different colors that represent unique genetic mutations. Waclaw et al/Nature
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Cancer’s creeping up on heart disease as the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to new data from the Center for Disease Control.

Heart disease still has a grip on what’s killing us, but it’s a loose one: 614,348 people in the U.S. died of heart disease in 2014, compared with 591,699 of cancer. This is a big shift from the 1950s, when deaths related to heart disease were more than double of those related to cancer — and an even more radical difference when compared to the start of this century, when only two states, Alaska and Minnesota, saw more cancer fatalities than heart disease.

Now, as of 2014, you’re more likely to die of cancer than heart disease in 22 states:

cause of death in the U.S.
A morbid map: the states that made the flip to cancer as the leading cause of death are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia. CDC

For Asian Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic populations, the cancer risk is even greater. Non-Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islanders saw a 79.6 percent uptick in annual cancer fatalities between 2000 and 2014.

[H/T LA Times]

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