Hallmarks, Growing uncontrollably

Professor Robert Weinberg explains that cancer cells have to learn how to grow in the absence of growth stimulatory signals that normal cells require from their environment.

Educational standards - statements

  • Given adequate resources and an absence of disease or predators, populations of organisms in ecosystems increase at rapid rates. Finite resources and other factors limit their growth| AAAS#5D/M3
  • Populations can reach limits to growth. Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals that can be supported in a given environment. The limitation is not the availability of space, but the number of people in relation to resources and capacity of earth systems to support human beings.| NSES#F 2.3
  • Communication between cells is required to coordinate their diverse activities. Cells may secrete molecules that spread locally to nearby cells or that are carried in the bloodstream to cells throughout the body. Nerve cells transmit electrochemical signals that carry information much more rapidly than is possible by diffusion or blood flow.| AAAS#6C/H3
  • Much can be learned about the internal workings of science and the nature of science from study of individual scientists, their daily work, and their efforts to advance scientific knowledge in their area of study.| NSES#G 3.1