• Question: What is so special about naked mole rats that make theme not get cancer?

    Asked by Lilybug005 to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 11 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Rachel McMullan

      Rachel McMullan answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      Hi Lilybug
      Brilliant question.
      Cancer is basically clumps of cells that shouldn’t be there. Scientists think that the reason naked mole rats don’t get cancer is because their cells can’t clump together. This is because they make a special version of the stuff that lubricates our joints, it’s called hyaluronan. This stops the cells from getting close enough together to form clumps

    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 20 Nov 2015:

      Hey,

      Rachel’s answer is probably a lot more scientific (and correct) than mine – but I think it might be because they are just so ugly even cancer doesn’t want them 🙁

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