SOME animals don’t get cancer easily, or never at all. Something in their genetic makeup is hardwired to fight cancer. Understanding why, could help scientists treat and prevent it.
Research shows that the elephant genome turned out to contain a lot of copies of a cancer-fighting gene. Known as p53, it is a tumour suppressor. Most mammals have it, including humans, but we only have one copy whereas elephants have 20.
When scientists combed
