Each year, the American Cancer Society releases its annual Cancer Facts & Figures, offering a snapshot of where the nation is making progress against cancer—and where gaps remain. The 2026 report brings encouraging news nationally: cancer death rates continue to decline, and more people are surviving cancer than ever before.

Access to timely, high-quality health care depends on having enough trained professionals where patients live. In Nevada, that challenge is especially acute in rural communities and underserved urban neighborhoods, where shortages of physicians, nurses, behavioral health providers and other clinicians can delay care and worsen health outcomes, including for cancer prevention, screening and treatment.

Each January, many people participate in Dry January by choosing to take a break from alcohol for the month. While the challenge is often framed around resetting habits or improving sleep and energy, it also offers an important opportunity to talk about something less commonly discussed: the connection between alcohol use and cancer risk.

When people think about lung cancer risk, smoking is often the first thing that comes to mind. But there is another major cause that many Nevadans may not realize is present in their own homes: radon.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from the ground. You cannot see it, smell it or taste it, but it can build up inside homes, schools and other buildings. Long-term exposure to elevated radon levels is the leading cause of lung cancer among people who have never smoked and the second leading cause overall.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and while smoking is the dominant risk factor, it is not the only one shaping who develops the disease. A new large-scale study adds to growing evidence that diet — particularly high consumption of ultra-processed foods — may play an important role in lung cancer risk, with implications for public health prevention efforts.

Nevada’s sun-soaked skies are part of what makes our state beautiful — and what makes sun protection essential. That’s why the recent move by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to propose adding a new sunscreen ingredient called bemotrizinol to the lineup of approved sunscreen actives is big news for sun-smart communities like ours.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths, in part because early-stage disease is often missed until symptoms appear. Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) -- a relatively new recommendation for screening compared to other cancers -- is helping more people to have their cancers found sooner. But what if cutting-edge technology could help clinicians spot trouble even earlier?

Cervical cancer screening in the U.S. is entering a new era with the FDA’s recent approval of the Teal Wand, the first at-home self-collection device for primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. This development expands access to a screening option that uses the same highly accurate HPV testing recommended in clinical guidelines, while allowing people to collect samples at home and mail them to a lab for analysis.