Are Cancers Actually New Species of Life? Probably Not—and It Doesn't Matter

Two days ago, an intriguing story began circulating on the web. In a new paper, a UC Berkeley biologist suggested that cancers—ravenously reproducing, endowed with radically different DNA from normal human cell—are actually a new parasitic species. Because such massive genetic rearrangement is reminiscent of how new species sometimes form, it could be said that cancers were doing just that. Some site picked up the story and ran it at face value: new species are a catchy idea, and cancer is always an interesting topic.