Breast Cancer and Artificial Light

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Via BoingBoing, a fascinating hypothesis: could breast cancer be caused by artificial light?

The University of Connecticut cancer epidemiologist says there still is no scientific consensus about why the incidence of the disease is so much higher in the developed world.

The literature on breast cancer is littered with discredited theories about environmental and lifestyle factors that may contribute to the onset of the disease.

“We knew more about the cause of breast cancer 20 years ago than we do today,” Stevens said. “What we do know is that it must have something to do with industrialized society.”

Only a few theories have withstood scientific scrutiny, and no single factor explains a great percentage of breast cancer cases.

But that hasn’t stopped people from looking for new explanations.

Now, Stevens and a few other researchers are focusing on a little-known suspect – electric light.

Their theory that artificial light can cause breast cancer is simple. Prolonged periods of exposure to artificial light disrupt the body’s circadian rhythms – the inner biological clocks honed over thousands of years of evolution to regulate behaviors such as sleep and wakefulness. The disruption affects levels of hormones such as melatonin and the workings of cellular machinery, which can trigger the onset of cancer, Stevens theorizes.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

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A few months ago, blogging about drought in Ethiopia, I mentioned my definition of drought: “less precipitation than you’ve come to depend on.”

This evening I realized where I’d gotten the idea.

In the August 2002 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Kelly Redmond wrote a commentary on “The Depiction of Drought.” In it, he wrote:

Most concepts of drought involve a water balance. This implies that both supply and demand must be considered, as well as the question of whether there is enough (and, enough for what?). Thus, through time I have come to favor a simple definition; that is, insufficient water to meet needs.

I’d not read the paper before. But I’ve talked with Kelly about this stuff at great length. So the idea must have come from him.

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere

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One of my favorite scientists, Carl Caves, was recently elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. It was a good excuse to give the general public a little introduction to what he’s thinking about:

That strangeness, though difficult to grasp intuitively, turns out to have useful consequences, Caves said in an interview.

By embracing the strangeness rather than fighting it, Caves and others in the vanguard have laid out a theoretical framework for computers vastly more powerful than anything conceivable today.

New Bike

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Well, it’s really an old bike, made new again:


New old bike

It’s my old road bike, converted to a fixed gear. It’s old school.


drive train

I left both brakes on for now, because I’m new to this fixed-gear thing. And it’s my town bike, so the rack stays on the back. I took it for a spin around the neighborhood this afternoon, its inaugural ride, stopped by to show Dad.

New toy = fun.