Chernobyl's mutant wolves appear to have developed resistance to cancer

AmiMoJo writes: Mutant wolves roaming the deserted streets of Chernobyl appear to have developed resistance to cancer — raising hopes the findings can help scientists fight the disease in humans. Dr Cara Love, an evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist at Princeton University in the US, has been studying how the Chernobyl wolves survive despite generations of exposure to radioactive particles. The researchers discovered that Chernobyl wolves are exposed to upwards of 11.28 millirem of radiation every day for their entire lives — which is more than six times the legal safety limit for a human. Dr Love found the wolves have altered immune systems similar to cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment, but more significantly she also identified specific parts of the animals' genetic information that seemed resilient to increased cancer risk.