Aging in Fast-Forward: The Science Behind Rising Cancer in Young Adults

The Big Idea

Here's a number that should stop you cold: early-onset cancer diagnoses rose by 25% globally between 1990 and 2019. That's not a blip. That's not better screening catching more cases. That is a genuine, accelerating health crisis among people who should be in the prime of their lives.

And now, a team of researchers has put forward a theory that manages to be both alarming and eerily intuitive: younger generations aren't just getting more cancer — they may be aging faster on a...