I recently discovered "Google Forever" mentioned in a novel "Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. It also mentioned Mechanical Turk. Are these well known?
Recent news describes cancer killing viruses that when injected into cancer cells kill them and then the virus can be killed by the immune system. It looks very promising but has only been tested on selected cancers.
Here is a reference: http://ki.se/en/research/live-and-let-die-the-implications-of-cell-death-for-health-and-illness
I just watched the documentary "Cancer The Emperor of All Maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Iw provides an excellent review of carcinogenics and oncogenes. Apparently, viruses, chemicals, radiation and other causes can cause our cells to mutate into cancer. Some types can be killed but more research discoveries are needed.