In 2020, approximately 1.8 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States alone. The disease is so infamous that some scientists say that merely uttering its name leads to a better chance of grant funding, and so challenging to treat that it has become commonplace to embolden new generations of scientists by saying they will “cure cancer”. Today, we will discuss some of the introductory themes of cancer. Let’s learn to be scientifically conversational.