Reading Cancers Genetic SignaturebyBIG THINK EDITORSJANUARY 8, 2014, 12:00 AM

"Cancer death rates in the United States continue to decline." Despite this conclusion, from the recentReport to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, we are still thought to be losing the war against cancer. Why is this? For one thing, cancer may soon overtake heart disease as the #1 cause of death.But this is an unfair comparison,writes George Johnson inThe New York Times. "Heart diseaseand cancer are primarily diseases of aging," Johnson observes, adding that we are really talking about a zero-sum game: "Fewer people succumbing to one means more people living long enough to die from the other...Though not exactly consoling, the fact that we have reached this standoff is a kind of success."Moreover, in measuring progress in this war, we need to appreciate the approach that researchers have adopted, of "fighting and even winning smaller battles," as Johnson puts it. That means reducing and sometimes preventing cancer that occurs in childhood or in the prime of someone's life. Eventually, we all will get it, unless something else gets us first. Cancer, after all, is a condition "deeply ingrained in the nature of evolution and multicellular life." In other words, cancer isfundamentally a disease of the genome.Over the past 10 years we have learned to read out that genome, explainsEric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Studying the sequence of a tumors DNA allows us to "gain insights from that tumor with respect to the DNA changes that have led to those cells becoming a cancer," Green tells Big Think in the video below.This is one of the most notable achievements of The Human Genome Project, Green argues, as thegenomes of tumors can beanalyzed, providing "a much better way of deciding what types of treatments to pursue."The National Human Genome Research Institute, inpartnership withthe National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, has launched an exhibition called "Genome: Unlocking Lifes Code."This multimedia exhibitionon view at the National Museum of Natural History through Sept. 1, 2014is designed to provide the general public with the most cutting edge information on genomic research and how it impacts human health.