August 25, 2016.
A team of researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa have made a totally mind-boggling discovery: an invasive cancerous tumor on a foot bone of a hominid dating back 1.7 million years.
A foot bone that’s about 1.7 million years old
Could our ancestors also die of cancer? This is what a study, published in the journal South African Journal of Science, and conducted by South African researchers who found a foot bone that is about 1.7 million years old and shows evidence of a cancerous tumor. It is precisely an osteosarcoma, a malignant tumor that affects the bones.
Using a radiological 3D imaging method, the researchers compared the x-rays of the fossil with those of contemporary people affected by this pathology, and the same type of abnormal tissue growth has been found. This discovery is all the more fascinating given that the oldest cancer found in a Neanderthal in Krapina, Croatia, was “only” 120,000 years old.
Our ancestors could die of cancer too
” Modern medicine tends to assume that cancers and tumors in humans are diseases caused by modern lifestyles and environments. », Explains Edward Odes, lead author of the study, on the scientific site Phys.org. ” Our results show that these diseases already existed in our ancestors, millions of years before the emergence of industrial societies modern. “
The state of preservation did not allow researchers to determine whether it belonged to an adult or a child, or whether cancer was the cause of that person’s death, but what is certain is thatit is indeed a cancerous tumor on the foot of a hominid. This discovery, however, questions the triggers of cancer. ” You can go for the paleo diet, you can find the healthiest possible environment, but the power of cancers is old and it’s already programmed into us. Edward Odes said.
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