<story><title>To learn more quickly, brain cells break their DNA (2021)</title><url>https://www.quantamagazine.org/brain-cells-break-their-dna-to-learn-more-quickly-20210830/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>veilrap</author><text>Does this imply that thinking too hard, cramming, and other rapid learning strategies may actually increase brain cancer risk?&lt;p&gt;Somewhat horrifying to think about... Oops.</text></item><item><author>user_7832</author><text>&amp;gt; The discovery is all the more surprising because DNA double-strand breaks, in which both rails of the helical ladder get cut at the same position along the genome, are a particularly dangerous kind of genetic damage associated with cancer, neurodegeneration and aging.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s amazing how much, yet how little we know of our bodies and living organisms in general. I hope vast advances in understanding biology become the 21st century-equivalent of the technological revolution of the 20th century.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wozer</author><text>&amp;gt; High levels of education linked to heightened brain tumor risk&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Gliomas, in particular, more common among university-educated, large observational study shows&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Men with university level education, lasting at least three years, were 19% more likely to develop a glioma&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedaily.com&amp;#x2F;releases&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;160620221757.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedaily.com&amp;#x2F;releases&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;160620221757.h...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I believe, for a rare cancer, a 19% increased risk is not a very big deal. It&amp;#x27;s still low risk. (And of course, only the correlation is known.)</text></comment>
<story><title>To learn more quickly, brain cells break their DNA (2021)</title><url>https://www.quantamagazine.org/brain-cells-break-their-dna-to-learn-more-quickly-20210830/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>veilrap</author><text>Does this imply that thinking too hard, cramming, and other rapid learning strategies may actually increase brain cancer risk?&lt;p&gt;Somewhat horrifying to think about... Oops.</text></item><item><author>user_7832</author><text>&amp;gt; The discovery is all the more surprising because DNA double-strand breaks, in which both rails of the helical ladder get cut at the same position along the genome, are a particularly dangerous kind of genetic damage associated with cancer, neurodegeneration and aging.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s amazing how much, yet how little we know of our bodies and living organisms in general. I hope vast advances in understanding biology become the 21st century-equivalent of the technological revolution of the 20th century.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dekhn</author><text>One can speculate and find many ways that thinking too hard would increase cancer rates, although none of these speculations are strong enough to be actionable.&lt;p&gt;For example, thinking harder leads to greater metabolic activity in the brain, and greater metabolic activity can increase the risk of cancer.  Therefore, thinking harder increases the risk of cancer.&lt;p&gt;Thinking hard can be associated with increased stress, and increased stress can cause the induction of endogenous viruses, which can themselves cause cancer or other serious problems.&lt;p&gt;I could go on, but the reality is, even while all of these are realistic statements, they contribute far less to overall risk than obesity or driving.</text></comment>