C.M. Rubin's Blog

Richard (RJ) Eskow: Washington's Stupid, Destructive Game

It's Monday morning in America. That means we're about to endure another week of pointless debate over the precise methods by which our Federal government will impose more needless misery on the hapless population instead of solving its completely fixable problems.

Readers of our nation's newspapers might be forgiven for believing that the citizens of our nation have been condemned to some sort of quotidian hell as punishment for our collective crimes, where we must suffer the pangs of deprivation while listening to endless debates about how best to compound our misery.

Which reminds me: Is it time for Meet the Press yet?

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Jason Steidl: The Scandal of Catholicism and the Lesson to Learn From It

Scandals at the Vatican remind us that the faith in redemption we share is a message which we and the world need to hear.
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Star-Gazing Software Helps Fight Breast Cancer

By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - In an unlikely tie-up, astronomers and cancer researchers have joined forces to study breast tumours using image analysis software originally developed to explore the distant stars.
The automated system offers a speedy way to test if tumours are aggressive and may mean pathologists one day no longer have to peer down a microscope to spot subtle differences in tissue samples.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge said on Wednesday that astronomical algorithms, or problem-solving procedures, adapted to biology had proved much faster and just as accurate as traditional tumour analysis procedures.
Astronomers have long used sophisticated computer systems to help pick out indistinct objects in the night sky, and the software used by the Cambridge team first developed to help spot planets that might harbour life outside our solar system.
But such star-gazing skills have gone largely unnoticed in biomedical field, at least until now.
"In shows that we don't cross-communicate as much as we ought to," said lead researcher Raza Ali, a pathologist from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Institute.
Ali and colleagues studied just over 2,000 tumour samples and found the astronomical algorithm system could process them in a day, compared to the week they would have taken to analyse manually.
They now plan a larger international study involving samples from more than 20,000 breast cancer patients to refine the approach.
Studying tumour samples is a key part of breast cancer treatment since differences can show whether or not a tumour expresses a certain protein. A "positive" result means a patient may be suitable for a targeted drug like Roche's Herceptin.
Some diagnostics companies are already looking at other ways to automate the analysis of tumour samples but Ali said this was the first example of exploiting know-how adapted from astronomy.
The team of Cambridge cancer researchers and astronomers, who published their findings in the British Journal of Cancer, have placed all their algorithms and images in the public domain in the hope of encouraging further collaboration. (Editing by Louise Heavens)

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10 Celebrity Bodies We Need To Stop Talking About

By Charlotte Andersen for Shape.com

There's so much more to these famous females (and one male) than their figures! Here, we reveal the inspiring qualities that are much more worthy of discussion.

More from Shape.com:

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More on Eating Disorders

HuffPost Workouts: Oscar-Winning Music You Can Exercise To

While the big moments of the 2013 Oscars undeniably belong to movies (and wardrobe malfunctions), music has been nominated for its very own Academy Award since 1935. Categories for best original score and best original song were introduced at the 7th Academy Awards.

Since then, a wide range of songs and artists have been recognized. Nominated for best original song this year are: "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"; "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"; "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"; and "Skyfall" from "Skyfall."

We combed the archives for the Oscar-winning songs you can work out to. Let us know if you actually would in the comments below -- or if we left any off the list!

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Danielle Tumminio: Candida Moss on Whether Christian Martyrs are a Myth

Martyrdom accounts are inspiring but we do those people who suffered and died a deep disservice when we extend their experience to claim that "all Christians are persecuted and always will be" because that's not true.
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Dr. Michael J. Breus: Sleep: The Key to a Long-Term, Loving Relationship?

The last finding is particularly interesting: A lack of sleep by one person in the relationship resulted in greater likelihood of diminished feelings of appreciation by both partners. This suggests just how deeply sleep can influence the emotional dynamic of a relationship.
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Fredda Wasserman: Hollywood's Take on Grief

From Les Miserables to Silver Linings Playbook to Flight, death and grief are major themes in this year's Oscar nominated films. The film makers and writers must be applauded for daring to expose viewers to such intimate portrayals of the grief process.
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George Heymont: Sweating Out A Surrealist Nightmare

Do your nightmares make you feel like you've entered The Twilight Zone? Do you feel trapped in a surrealistic cesspool? You are not alone.

Written and directed by Christopher Graybill, The Great Gastromancer is a short film that started off with one goal, didn't quite get there, and (even though it's billed as "without a doubt, the strangest short film at the SFIndie Film Festival") became hopelessly confusing. On his Kickstarter page, Graybill explains that:

"The Great Gastromancer will be a short narrative about Charlie Grumbles, an amateur ventriloquist with an innocent heart. His genuine pursuit to make people laugh ultimately leads him to dark places, where this same innocence seems to bring out the malicious talent of peering through time. In these experiences Charlie finds that not only do beauty and generosity hold divine qualities, but on the contrary, so does the overwhelming power of hate and destruction. There are many themes visited in the current script. Old America and new America, hate, love, atheism and animism, demons or autonomous complexes. I've been practicing ventriloquism for the Charlie role. Alan Semok, the famed Dummy Doctor, who has worked on such films as Dummy and Cradle Will Rock is possibly supplying a vintage figure. Also Matthew David has agreed to lend his musical talents."

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Bridal Guide: For His Eyes Only: PG-13 Boudoir Photos

Boudoir photo sessions are a fun idea for brides who want to flaunt their curves, give an unforgettable gift to their leading man, and who believe that confidence is sexy
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