On July 23, a milestone in presidential campaign history was delivered when Democratic presidential candidates fielded questions sent in via YouTube, a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. On September 17, Republican candidates will take part in the second CNN-YouTube debate.

Aired live on CNN, this unusual debate featured 39 serious questions -- about immigration, climate change, the voting system, even cancer.

Thirty-six-year-old Kim of Long Island, who pulls off her wig mid-question, asks in her video clip about the millions of uninsured Americans who don't have access to preventative medical care.

June passed away in April, she was 82. She was one of Canada's most celebrated authors and social advocates. She helped the homeless, dealt with issues of racism and injustice. She did much volunteer work.

In 2004, June was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and refused to undergo treatments.

I came across a last interview with her that I thought was very moving. She talks about her life, her marriage, and the fact that her cancer is terminal.

What an amazing woman.

I keep writing about skin cancer, specifically melanoma, because I'm a little obsessed about it. I guess the seriousness of the disease is finally sinking in and making me think.

I want you to think about it too. I want you to stay out of the sun, cover up, dress yourself in sunscreen, report for annual skin cancer screenings, and arm yourself with knowledge.

If you are not convinced by my words alone, please watch this video about how melanoma spreads -- how it breaks away from its original location and metastasizes throughout the bloodstream and lymphatic system, landing in other parts of the body. Melanoma is the deadliest from of skin cancer. This video proves it.

Cigna Corp. is offering a free video game for teens called Re-Mission. The video game lets teens and young adults blast cancer while learning how to improve the odds of beating the disease.

The creator of the game is Hopelab, a non-profit organization seeking to improve the health of young people with a mix of good science and fun technology. Re-Mission is a teen-rated shooting game featuring a nanobot named Roxxi who roams inside the bodies of fictional cancer patients, destroying cancer cells, battling bacteria infections and managing side effects associated with cancer and cancer treatments.

John Ondrasik, the man and musician behind the band Five for Fighting, has released a new album and a new website that just happens to benefit the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 3-day, 60-mile walk sponsored by Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

Think about this:

Ondrasik's new album, "Two Lights," features a song called "World" which is in heavy rotation on pop radio stations across the country. This single is the inspiration for Ondrasik's new website, What Kind of World Do You Want -- the first video community that gives back by allowing visitors a chance to make a difference.

This is how it works: reveal what kind of world you want and help raise money for charity by watching videos or creating and uploading a video of yourself, your friends, or your family. In your video, answer the question What Kind of World Do You Want? and then choose which charity you wish to help fund.

In addition to the Breast Cancer 3-Day, selected charities include the Fisher House, Save the Children, Autism Speaks, VH1 Save the Music Foundation, and NY Police and Fire Widows & Children. Video clips describing each charity, a message from Ondrasik, and a video of the song "World," are all featured on the site.

Today I watched a video of myself. I was interviewing my grandmother about her 83 years worth of memories -- a project my husband and I dreamed up so that my grandma's life story would live on long after her death.

The video was taped in May 2000, three years before my grandma died and four and a half years before I was diagnosed with cancer. My hair was long and blond and straight, like it had been since I was a little girl, and it was twisted and clipped on the top of my head. I instantly longed for this hair -- and for my grandma too -- and just as I was convincing myself that my post-chemotherapy dark, curly hair was merely a new phase of my life -- much like the phase of living without my grandma -- my six-year-old son entered the room, looked at the TV screen and said, "Mommy, I really like your hair like that."

"I do too," I told Joey.

"Can you get it back?" he said.

"No, I can't get it back," I replied, knowing that I would never bleach my hair back to its original natural color and that the forces of nature will forever prevent me from removing the curl that today looked somewhat like what frames a lion's face.

So, no, I can't get my hair back. And I can't get my grandma back. But I am thankful for the video that captures us together, talking and laughing and remembering. And should my own grandchildren ever wish to interview me when I am 83 years old, I will definitely tell them about my sweet and spunky grandma and all of her touching stories. And I will tell them about the great blond hair I had the privilege of wearing for the first 34 years of my life.

It's been reported that procrastination is on the rise. Not only that, but it makes people poorer, fatter, and unhappier too.

It took 10 years of research when it was projected to take only five years -- procrastination at its best -- to come to this conclusion. And now Canadian industrial psychologist and University of Calgary professor Piers Steel is talking about his giant 30-page study that appears in this month's Psychological Bulletin.

Something must be done about this problem, says Steel, who reveals 26 percent of the American public consider themselves chronic procrastinators. This is up from five percent in 1978 and is likely due to the tempting diversions facing us in this day and age -- TVs, cell phones, video games, iPods, the Internet, and Blackberries.

It's no surprise with such temptations that a quarter of Americans say they procrastinate. When it comes to the sexes, men are worse than women -- about 54 out of 100 chronic procrastinators are men -- and the young are more like to procrastinate than the old. Three out of four college students consider themselves procrastinators. And it seems perfectionists procrastinate less because they don't like to delay.

Steel says procrastination wastes time. And it's costly too.

"The U.S. gross national product would probably rise by $50 billion if the icon and sound that notifies people of new e-mail suddenly disappear," he said.

Steel found a delay in filing taxes on average costs a person $400 a year. Last-minute Christmas shopping with credit cards was five times higher in 1999 than in 1991. Clearly, procrastination is expensive.

Procrastination also has physical and emotional costs. Procrastinators tend to be less healthy, less wealthy, and less happy. They are also harder to heal of their problems than alcoholics.

Steel, who plans to one day compare the procrastination practices in various countries and cultures, says his field has benefits. The more he knows about the problem, the less he indulges in delay tactics. He did, however, acknowledge that his study was completed five years late. But what he likes about this study is this -- "If you take a day off from it, you can always say it's field research."

Should my cancer come back, should my prognosis be poor, should my life approach an abrupt stop, my one wish would be for enough time to leave something meaningful for my children. It would be something written or something on video, something that would allow me to somehow guide my little boys through their years, something that would offer them a lasting impression of me.

This is just what Melanie Worthington, a Michigan mom, did for her five-year-old son after receiving her diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer.

Worthington made video tapes for her little boy, Theo. Her mother helped her, and they taped mother and son making cookies and playing together at a cabin. They tried to capture anything to remind Theo time of spent with his mom.

And then a few weeks after his 39-year-old mom died, Theo's tapes were stolen by someone who walked through an unlocked door at the Worthington home. Also stolen were two camcorders, a portable DVD player, and other assorted tapes.

Virtually all of Theo's video memories are gone. There are no duplicates of the tapes, and police have no suspects in the case.

"It was like someone had come out and taken her away from us a second time," Worthington's sister said.

Melanie, who died Thanksgiving weekend, was living with Theo, her parents, and her sister in a ranch home on a dirt road. Her parents, both on disability and without a lot of financial resources, have pulled together a $200 reward for the return of the tapes.

"Maybe this is one way we can get them back," said Worthington's mom. "I guess I'm hoping for some kind of miracle."

As a resource of medical information, take into account that there are over 25,000 medical journals published worldwide. For most of us, it is an overwhelming volume of information.

Doctor Evidence is an independent user-friendly fee-based medical search service connecting patients and doctors to the latest in relevant information which can then lead to the formulation of informed decisions about medical treatments -- and avoid potentially deadly mistakes in misdiagnosis, treatment or surgery.

In 2000, Dr. Todd Feinman founded Doctor Evidence after undergoing unnecessary surgery for intestinal cancer. After surgery he was told that the test that led to surgery had been a false-positive. He did not have cancer.

According to Dr. Feinman, "Every year, hundreds of new therapies and diagnostic tests are introduced to treat the thousands of diseases that are afflicting millions of adults and children. Finding evidence about the most accurate diagnostic tests and effective treatments requires the proper resources. This includes specialized information technologies, subscriptions to medical databases, medical librarians, and much more that is not readily available to most doctors and patients."

Yesterday, Extra aired a feature about Dr. Feinman and the Doctor Evidence service. During the report, a patient who had been told he might have pancreatic cancer turned to the Doctor Evidence website only to find out that one of the high-niacin level medications he was taking was mimicking symptoms of pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer. You can view the video of the segment online here.

Doctor Evidence staff is comprised of doctors with expertise in evidence-based medicine, medical librarians with masters in library science, other professionals with expertise in healthcare, and information technology experts. To learn more, visit the Doctor Evidence website.

Who and what was the most googled in 2006? The Year-End Google Zeitgeist top ten lists for general and news searches on the Internet this year include Paris Hilton and Bebo -- and cancer.

Of the celebrities most searched for, Paris Hilton outranked Orlando Bloom and the social networking site Bebo outranked MySpace. In the news category, cancer ranked as the third most searched for topic, before podcasting, autism, Hurricane Katrina, and bankruptcy.

The top ten Google searches were, in this order: Bebo, MySpace, World Cup, Metacafe, Radioblog, Wikipedia, Video, Rebelde, Mininova and Wiki. The top ten Google news searches were, in this order: Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, cancer, podcasting, Hurricane Katrina, bankruptcy, Martina Hingis, autism, the 2006 NFL Draft and Celebrity Big Brother.

Surprised to see Paris Hilton topping the list of news searches? Sadly, me neither. Personally, I am not certain that she has ever done anything newsworthy, other than having proven a supreme talent for the uniquely cunning ability to stay in the headlines for no particularly meaningful reason.

It is substantially interesting that cancer was the third most searched for news topic this year. I know that those whose lives have been touched by cancer can feel very alone, and if this proves anything, we are certainly not alone in trying to sort through the many issues linked to cancer.

Earlier this month, Farrah Fawcett successfully completed six weeks of treatment for anal cancer and is reported to be doing very well. According to her publicist Mike Pingel, "The outlook is really good and her spirits are high."

Yesterday, in her first public appearance since treatment, she was seen Christmas shopping and dining out in Beverly Hills with Ryan O'Neal.

On the recently launched Farrah Fawcett website to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Charlie's Angels, she plans to reach out to cancer survivors with support in surviving cancer -- which will include tips on hair and skin from a woman famous for fabulous hair.

Fawcett has posted a personal thank you note to her fans for the cards and letters of encouragement over the past few months. In it she states she is happy that the hardest part is over, adding that time will be the accurate test in surviving cancer. She ends her note with, "Until then, I wanted to thank you all and wish you and your families a Happy and Healthy New Year. Love, Farrah."

We wish the same for Farrah. Farrah Fawcett's official website is here.

Rene Syler, member of the four-person anchor team on the CBS' morning news program The Early Show, will leave her post just before Christmas.

Syler says she will leave the show to pursue other media interests and to promote her new book -- Good Enough Mother -- that will be published next year. And she will undoubtedly continue raising awareness about breast cancer.

After doctors told Syler she had an increased risk of developing breast cancer since both her mother and father have had the disease, she kept a video diary of her experience for a story that won the 2004 Gracie Allen award. She has long been a breast cancer champion. But her personal experience with the illness upped her commitment to the cause.

Syler's final broadcast will be on December 22.

It's amazing how modern medicine can repair the damage done by breast cancer, how it can reconstruct breasts removed in an attempt to ward off future cancer attacks, how it can inspire one woman to shed light on this major life transformation.

Debbie was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2004. She had a double mastectomy and then treatment -- and then reconstruction. At the time, no pictures existed depicting the process, no images to prepare Debbie for the path she would travel.

Debbie traveled her path, survived it all, and now shares her journey -- through both words and images -- through a project she calls Myself: Together Again. Her project, intended to empower other women through the breast reconstruction process, is available online where booklets can also be ordered. A slideshow featuring images and audio of Debbie's journey is currently available on the MSNBC website.

While Debbie's story plots the landmark steps in reconstruction, each woman is unique -- and her medical team knows her situation best. Reconstruction options and results will vary for each person. This is just one woman's story.

In the not-too-distant future, dermatologists will be able to diagnose skin cancer without ever cutting the skin.

Right now, doctors cut out all suspicious lesions in order to examine them, to determine if they are cancerous or not. But with the development of a new microscope, cells can be examined right on the body -- without cutting.

Moles matter, reported Matt Lauer on Thursday's TODAY show during an interview with a skin cancer expert. Moles are highly associated with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. So it is critical that each mole is investigated. With this new high resolution technology -- essentially a video biopsy -- a camera will allow doctors to view cells, zero in on the area of concern, and pinpoint the exact cells that make up a mole. If the cells are similar in shape and size and have equal distribution, the mole is normal. If the individual cells are irregular and have no uniform pattern, the mole is abnormal and probably cancerous.

While cutting for biopsy purposes will one day be a thing of the past, cutting will still be necessary if a mole is characterized by cancerous cells. If it's cancer, it must come out. But the video biopsy can be used to map the border and boundaries and will allow for precise removal of the mole.

This technology is still developing -- but one day, perhaps eight to 10 years from now -- doctors will be able to more consistently detect cancer without removal of skin. For now, they must take a piece of the mole and put it under a microscope.

There are definite warning signs of skin cancer. Any mole that is asymmetrical with irregular borders and varied, dark colors should be reported to a physician. Also, any mole that changes in color, shape, or size and is bigger than a pencil eraser is cause for concern.

When Australian pop star Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, there was a sudden surge in the number of young women requesting breast cancer screening. Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 37 raised concern among a younger population of women that breast cancer is a diagnosis that could potentially happen to them. Knowledge is power and education saves lives. The increase in breast cancer awareness became known as the Kylie Effect.

However, the awareness that younger women can develop breast cancer has led some women to age-related conclusions about breast cancer that are not true, and this is also being referred to as the Kylie Effect. According to a recent survey of 2,289 women conducted by Cancer Research UK, 77 percent of the survey participants said that breast cancer risk was higher for women under the age of 70, and 33 percent said that women under the age of 50 were most at risk. The fact is cancer risk increases with age, and four out of five women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50.

"Celebrities with breast cancer like Kylie Minogue and Caron Keating have attracted a lot of publicity -- especially in magazines aimed at younger women. This is very beneficial in that it raises awareness of breast cancer. But the down side is that it may also set up a chain of panic among young women, while misleading older women to think that ageing is not a relevant factor in breast cancer," stated Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK.

For a retrospective of Kylie Minogue's breast cancer journey:

• Kylie Minogue: voted favorite traveling companion of men.
• Kylie Minogue: world exclusive interview with Sky One.
• Kylie Minogue loses close friend and personal chauffeur to cancer.
• Kylie Minogue: back on stage as a breast cancer survivor.
• Kylie Minogue: laughter is the best medicine for cancer cure.
• Dannii Minogue: sings under pressure about sister Kylie.
• Kylie Minogue breast cancer survivor glows in health.
• Kylie Minogue: cancer survivor writes children's book.
• Kylie Minogue joins women in fight for Herceptin.
• Kylie Minogue in breast cancer remission.

What should younger women do to be breast cancer smart? Do a monthly self exam and if they notice any abnormalities or lumps, insist that tests be done to rule out breast cancer. Realize that while any woman at any age can get breast cancer, the chances increase with age and 80 percent of breast cancer diagnosis happen for women 50 years and older.