Star-gazing software helps analyze breast cancer samples faster

We’re officially filing this story under “COOL!”

Cancer researchers and astronomers have joined forces to analyze breast tumors using the same software that explores distant stars. Turns out that astronomical algorithms easily adapted to biology, and are able to analyze tumors faster and just as accurately as traditional procedures.

Even cooler — 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.