Scientists solve a 100-year-old mystery about cancer

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Scientists solve a 100-year-old mystery about cancer

The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of a fundamental discovery that’s taught in every biochemistry textbook. In 1921, German physician Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells harvest energy from glucose sugar in a strangely inefficient manner: rather than “burn” it using oxygen, cancer cells do what yeast do—they ferment it. This oxygen-independent process occurs quickly, but leaves much of the energy in glucose untapped.

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