The Weekly Pulse — Edition 2, October 5, 2025

Published · Researched 2026-09-22

The week in one paragraph. The number that defined the week: 70. The American Cancer Society's Cancer Statistics 2026, released January 13, reported that for the first time, 70% of Americans diagnosed with cancer live five years or more — up from 50% in the mid-1970s. The mortality rate has fallen 34% since 1991, averting an estimated 4.8 million deaths, and the gains are largest where they matter most: the deadliest cancers, at the most advanced stages. Multiple myeloma survival climbed from 32% to 62%; lung from 15% to 28%; liver from 7% to 22%; distant-stage disease from 17% to 35%. The report's lead author credited decades of research with turning many cancers from death sentences into chronic disease. The honest caveats travel with the milestone: cancer remains the second-leading cause of death in the US, and the report flagged adverse trends where progress has slowed. An upworthy Instagram post framed the milestone as the payoff of funding, supporting, and prioritizing science; a cancer surgeon on Threads credited the clinical trials — and the patients who joined them — plus vaccines and early detection.

Rising: one-and-done medicine. Roctavian, approved by the FDA in June 2023, was the first and only U.S. gene therapy for adults with severe hemophilia A at approval — a single one-time infusion that delivers a working copy of the factor VIII gene, letting patients' own bodies make the missing clotting factor, and cutting the mean annualized bleeding rate by roughly 52% in the pivotal-trial analysis. A lifetime of intravenous factor infusions is being rewritten as a single treatment. The dossier notes direct patient and community social posts weren't captured for this one, so the social layer here is health press, not viral testimony.

Rising: the ocean's slowest rebound. North Atlantic right whales had their best calving season since 2009: 23 calves, with 20 of the 23 mothers experienced return breeders — a demographic lifeline for a species under 400 animals. NOAA and the New England Aquarium reported it with deliberate caution, and rightly so. Still watching: whether the calves survive to weaning, which the sources didn't confirm.

Rising: small wonders, critically endangered. Cotton-top tamarin twins were born at Twycross Zoo in August — twins being the species' usual litter size — a genuine conservation contribution for a primate with roughly 2,000 wild survivors; the zoo framed the births as part of its conservation work for the species. And in Lubbock, Texas, 11-year-old Kaylee Hernandez turned Lemonade Day into nearly $3,000 for her late father's headstone: after an aunt's fundraising attempt fell short, she opened a stand in front of a local studio and made twice the lemonade she expected. Her community showed up before she'd even started serving, including one of her father's former coworkers; the memorial was purchased at Resthaven Funeral Home on May 4, and People magazine picked the story up nationally. Still watching: the headstone's installation, expected six to nine weeks after purchase.

Falling: "terminal" as a category. Myeloma going from 32% to 62% survival, lung from 15% to 28%, distant-stage disease doubling to 35% — the numbers are eating the assumption that advanced cancer is a closed question.

Quiet signals. Proposed federal cancer-research funding cuts, flagged by the ACS in January 2026 as a threat to continued progress — still watching, and noted as context rather than independently verified fact. Right-whale calf survival to weaning — still watching. The tamarin twins' parents and sex, which the sources didn't publish — still watching.

Last week's scoreboard. N/A — editions written out of sequence; no prior calls to grade.

One line to close. Seven in ten. Four decades of research, and the deadliest cancers are the ones moving.