The bowhead whale is one of nature’s most remarkable survivors. Living for more than two centuries and weighing over 80,000 kilograms, it challenges one of biology’s most persistent questions: why do large and long-lived animals not face higher cancer rates? This apparent contradiction, known as Peto’s paradox, has long puzzled scientists studying ageing and disease. A recent study published in Nature offers new answers. Researchers discovered that the bowhead whale’s extraordinary lifespan may stem not from more tumour-suppressing genes, but from an exceptional ability to repair damaged DNA. These findings are now capturing global attention for their potential to inspire new directions in cancer research and treatment. Cancer is fundamentally a disease of mutations, and the longer

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