I had the privilege of working with Athena Aktipis to design a science communication tool as a way to explain to the public how cancer cheats. It’s called Game of Clones and while cancer is not fun nor funny I believe sharing information on why it is so hard to cure cancer inspires others to join this fight. Or as Athena explains it in her research on cancer shows us it is no longer about fighting cancer – it’s about learning to collaborate with cancer so we can use cancer clones as cooperative team players. If cancer cheats by changing the way business is done, by acting differently in every body it takes up residence in then we have to look at what can we learn from that? Here is a video on how the public game worked, followed by pictures at the public event.

Game of Clones Explanation from Biodesign Institute at ASU on Vimeo.

If a ten year old had fun at this event and learned about how cancer cheats, they are better equipped. So that at a family event when Great Aunt Marge raises her fists and yells out “why can’t they cure cancer already?” The ten year old can explain it’s because cancer cheat. This is how we win our future . . . .