Closer to solving the Tasmanian Devil cancer mystery

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As we’ve reported on before, Tasmanian devils could be wiped out by a rare – and mysterious – form of cancer. Scientists have now made progress in solving that mystery, and host Jeb Sharp speaks with one of them. Download MP3

• Listen to the previous story
• Breakthrough in Tasmanian devil facial cancer fight

Randy Brecker

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you know jazz-funk from the 1970s, you know this band: The Brecker Brothers. Both Brecker brothers — Randy on trumpet, Mike on tenor sax — made big names for themselves.

Cancer transferred from mother to fetus

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A 28 year-old woman in Japan has helped scientists to answer an important medical question. The woman had cancer and that cancer was transferred to her baby. It’s the first conclusive case that scientist have studied where cancer was passed from pregnant mother to child. Doctor Anthony Ford is with the Institute of Cancer Research. He was on the team of scientists studying his case. We speak with Dr. Ford. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• The Institute of Cancer Research

Tasmanian Devil on the Brink of Extinction

A deadly cancer is threatening to wipe out Tasmania’s most famous resident — the Tasmanian devil. Reporter Jake Warga has the story. Listen