Rare types of cancer are showing up in higher numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic. Doctors suspect the virus may be contributing to the higher cancer rates, despite a solid connection not yet being established. 

What do cancer trends look like?
Doctors have identified a marked increase in late-stage rarer cancers in people who had otherwise been healthy. Lung, blood and colon cancer, especially, have been rising in younger people. Specifically, medical experts have observed a rise in new cancer patients, multiple patients with multiple cancers, couples and siblings developing cancer within months of each other, and cancer patients relapsing after years of remission. 

The trend has been particularly noticeable since the Covid-19 pandemic. "This is an observation that has piqued the researchers' and clinicians' interest," Dr. Suraj Saggar, the chief of infectious disease at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey, said to Fox 5 New York.

What is especially alarming is the prevalence of people suffering from more than one type of cancer. "Having multiple forms of cancer at the same time has also become more prevalent. Cancers typically start in one part of the body and spread," said The Washington Post. "It's rare for discrete cancers to begin in different parts of the body during a short window." 

What could be causing the rise?
Some scientists posit that the Covid virus itself could be contributing to the higher numbers of cancer diagnoses, especially for those who are suffering from long Covid. "The idea that some viruses can cause or accelerate cancer is hardly new," said the Post. 

Because "infection with SARS-CoV-2 occurs in several organs either directly or indirectly, it is expected that cancer stem cells may develop in multiple organs," said a 2023 study published in the journal Biochimie. While not officially confirmed, the virus is also said to cause full-body inflammation. "Inflammation triggers many genetic changes in a genome that can create a propensity of developing cancer in certain individuals," Dr. Kashyap Patel, the CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, said to News Nation. "We are completely under-investigating this virus." 

The polar ice caps are melting, and it is, to put it mildly, a problem. The clock is ticking to prevent potential catastrophe, and, as such, scientists are exploring rather unconventional solutions. 

Underwater curtains
An idea that has been discussed for several years is to erect underwater curtains that would "prevent warm water from lapping at the base of the ice shelves," said Nature. "This warm water is the biggest threat as it causes the base of the floating ice to melt and the glacier to become unstable," glaciologist Michael Wolovick said to NBC News. Any underwater curtains would likely be built by robots, but the logistics of such a construction still pose major questions. "No one can say yet what such curtains would be made of, how they would be secured or how to stop them interfering with other vital local ecosystem services," said The Economist.

Blocking solar radiation
One of the more controversial methods is to use solar geoengineering to block the sun. Scientists have discussed the possibility of spraying aerosols into the atmosphere that would reflect light and, therefore, prevent warming. 

"Exploring ways to reflect sunlight into space before it's absorbed into Earth's climate system could help buy us more time to address climate change and avoid or delay climate tipping points," Paul Goddard, an assistant research scientist in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University, said to Phys.org. 

While the method shows promise, many are concerned about the ecological ramifications of blocking the sun. Modifying solar radiation is "not necessary, viable, prudent or sufficiently safe, given the limited scientific understanding and uncertainty about the potential impacts and unintended consequences," said Andrea Hinwood, the chief scientist at the U.N. Environment Program, in a report.

Getting to the source, not the symptom 
Some say there's no true solution to polar melting and it's best to simply attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that increases in Antarctic ice melting are largely unavoidable even with intervention. "Unfortunately, it's not great news," said Kaitlin Naughten, one of the paper's authors.