Fernando: Scientific advances

I have always felt deep respect and admiration for the men and women that somehow have made life easier and healthier for the rest of their fellow human beings. In many cases, they have devoted half their lives to achieving a specific aim.

Manuel Serrano, a leading Spanish cancer researcher

Chemistry research at UCLA

To my mind, nowadays people - generally speaking - enjoy scientific advances as something that they take for granted. It is kind of an entitlement which is considered part of our common heritage. However, behind every human invention, a medical breakthrough or a scientific advance, there is, without any doubt, a huge amount of work. So all of us should take into account that it is normally a silent and often tedious task which necessarily requires time, effort and dedication, as well as endurance, determination and commitment. On top of that, researchers must keep going steadily, in spite of the many difficulties they have to overcome. But the toughest time comes when they are very close to succeeding and something wrong happens unexpectedly. In that precise moment, they have to retrace their steps and go back to where they were, and try over and over again until they find the right path towards success.

      

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the extraordinary figure of SANTIAGO RAMÓN y CAJAL, the famous doctor and researcher. He exemplifies what I have mentioned above. Thanks to

his strong determination, painstakingly working in his lab while checking endless samples in his microscope, he managed to discover the close-knit connection between the neurons inside our brain. His remarkable discovery was one step forward into the unknown world of the human mind.

Thanks a lot, dear Fernando, for another fantastic post. Allow me to join you in for a humble tribute to the many committed, hard-working researchers across the world by embedding (if only for the sake of English) this short clip introducing NCRI, the prestigious National Cancer Research Institute in the UK. Hopefully one day soon an effective cure against this deathly plague called cancer will be found!