[By Lucia Aronica, Max F Perutz Laboratories, Austria]{style=“color: #48474c; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;”} [ ]{style=“color: #48474c; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;”} [Note: Lucia won the first ever Access to Understanding People’s Choice award.

[Image Source: Serial/Trash]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;”} [Cancer results from an accumulation of mistakes or abnormalities in genes that normally control cell survival, growth and migration. Genes are the instruction manual for our cells, and when these instructions are altered cells may begin to multiply (proliferate) uncontrollably.

[By Clare Finlay, a PhD student at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Disease, King’s College London]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [Note: Clare was highly commended for her entry. Check back tomorrow to read her brilliant summary on the blog.]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;

[Image Source: Serial/Trash]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;”} [After centuries of endeavour, scientists and doctors have made great strides towards improving cancer treatment. Nonetheless, while conventional therapy has undoubtedly saved innumerable lives, a worrying number of tumours remain inoperable and incurable by chemo- or radiotherapy.

[By Claire Sand, PhD student at King’s College London]{style=“font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [Note: Claire Sand was highly commended for her entry this year. She was a joint second-place winner in Access to Understanding 2013 competition. Check back tomorrow to read her entry.]{style=“font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;

[Image design: Serial/Trash]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;”} [Malaria claims a million lives a year, a majority of which are children, and threatens the lives of billions more within its tropical ranges. It is caused by ]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;”} Plasmodium, [a parasite]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;

[By Aidan Maartens, Post-doc student at the Gurdon Institute ]{style=“background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [Note: Aidan was awarded third place in this year’s Access to Understa ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;

[Image Source: Serial/Trash]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;”} [People have little trouble recognising and following the beat in a piece of music. We can even continue to play the beat in our minds once a song has finished. However, despite the ease with which we carry out such a task, the brain activity which underpins it remains a topic of investigation.]{style=“font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;

[By Elizabeth Kirkham, PhD student at the University of Sheffield]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [Note: Elizabeth was the winner of this year’s Access to Understanding competition. Check back tomorrow to read her winning entry! It has also been published by eLife.

Image design: Serial/Trash [New research challenges common beliefs about the origin of the disease and draws attention to the nerve cells’ ability to tidy up.]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [Parkinson’s disease is a devastating neurological disorder where nerve cells in the brain slowly degenerate and die.