When the term cancer comes to mind, the majority of people will have negative thoughts on the subject. The word alone is often accompanied with the similar mental images of a bald person lying on a hospital bed or a person dying. With so much of a negative connotation the word cancer has developed, it’s usually a tough topic to discuss. But in the medical field, cancer is never disregarded on any account. Despite the continuing cancer deaths, research has come a long way in understanding and treating cancer. I wanted to present on this topic for two reasons. One: I want to help people understand it better by answering common questions like “Why is there not a cure?”. And two: I want show where the fight against cancer stands now. So cancer, in definition, is group of diseases caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. It is a collective term for all malignant tumors that result from such a division of cells. Why can’t cancer be cured? The main reason is that cancer is not a disease, but hundreds of diseases, bundled under a common name. Some cancers are aggressive, some are not. Some cancers metastasize early, some late if at all. Some cancers are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, some are sensitive. Another reason is in many cases, by the time a malignancy (cancer) is diagnosed, it has been growing in the body for many years, sometimes even decades. We discover it when it is large enough, or in the right place to cause symptoms. Recent research has shown us new and creative ways of treating cancer. Jack Andraka found a way to detect pancreatic cancer earlier by paying attention to the levels of a protein called Mesothelin. He was only 15 when he made that discovery. Jay Bradner and his team developed a chemical that controls the growth of certain cells. The best part is that he made the chemical open-source, meaning that