By the time neuroblastoma  - a common childhood brain cancer - is discovered, it has usually already spread. The younger the child is at the time the disease is found, the better. Scientists are beginning to understand why.

The lowered cost of genetic analysis, increasing use of online databases sharing research, and more powerful computing techniques have resulted in the ability to find complex genetic patterns unimaginable only a decade ago.

Adding to their long and distinguished history, lab mice are now helping in the fight against cancer - specifically, aggressive forms of brain cancer in children.

Brain cancer is never a phrase you want to hear, particularly relating to children. Glioblastomas are extremely aggressive, and scientists have had trouble understanding why chemotherapy and radiation seem powerless against it, especially in children.

Baseball Hall of Famer, Gary Carter - the "Kid" - has lost his battle with brain cancer. As a New York Mets catcher, he may be best remembered for the team's 1986 World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox.

The most common cancerous brain tumor is also among the most aggressive cancers. Current therapies usually don't treat g lioblastoma multiforme . So new treatment answers are desperately needed.

An old saying in the operating room is "Once the air hits your brain, you're never the same." Despite the risks, taking a biopsy from a brain tumor is a necessary procedure. But, a new brain scan could change cancer diagnosis entirely.

The race is on to find cures for cancers that take the lives of those who haven't yet lived a full life. And progress is being made against one particularly aggressive childhood brain tumor.

Science has come a long way in understanding what cancer is, but how exactly cells become cancerous in the first place isn't as well understood. Stopping or reversing this process is an important research goal, but there's still a long way to go. 

Progress is being made on most oncology fronts. Unfortunately, brain metastasis remains something medicine hasn't touched in an effective way. Researchers may have found a new opening in resolving the greatest challenge women with advanced breast cancer face.