National Post

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Remember Dolly? Critics of a new embryonic skin cell breakthrough do
The prospect of using a patient’s skin to generate healthy heart, liver or nerve cells for transplant operations has moved a step closer after a breakthrough by scientists, but some researchers are concerned the development leaves the door open too wide to the cloning of human babies.
[Getty Images]

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Explaining Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy

On Tuesday, actress Angelina Jolie revealed she had undergone a double mastectomy after learning of a heightened risk for breast cancer, Here, an explainer of the process, including what it is, how it’s done and why it helps prevent breast cancer: natpo.st/YSVK88

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Wondering which foods to pick up first at the farmers’ market this spring?
Dietitian Jennifer Sygo recommends two foods — asparagus and the plant pictured above (can you guess what it is?) — to pick up as they arrive on shelves this month, fresh from gardens and farms. Both back a powerful punch of vitamins, and can assist in shedding pounds, too.
[Dean Bicknell/Postmedia News files]

Wearable robots that can help paralyzed people walk will be a ‘godsend’When Michael Gore stands, it’s a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair to his full 6-foot-2 and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.

The technology has many nicknames. Besides “wearable robot,” the inventions also are called “electronic legs” or “powered exoskeletons.” This version, called Indego, is among several competing products being used and tested in U.S. rehab hospitals that hold promise not only for people such as Gore with spinal injuries, but also those recovering from strokes or afflicted with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

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Got lower back pain? The cause could be bacteria, and the cure could be familiar
Antibiotics have been used successfully by a Danish researcher working with more than 150 patients suffering from chronic lower back pain. Click through to hear how it works.
[Photo credit: Handout]

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That little bit of wine or occasional beer to show children proper drinking behaviour may not be such as great idea after all
An EU report on childhood and adolescence says that parents who give young children alcohol in an attempt to teach them about responsible drinking may be doing more harm than good.
[Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images files]

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Professor wants to dig deep into the health benefits of nose picking
An associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan is trying to get more students interested in science by looking at the health benefits of picking your nose and eating it.

Scott Napper says nature pushes us to do different things because it is to our advantage to have certain behaviours, to consume different types of foods.

Napper says mucous traps germs and stops them from getting into our body, but if we consume that mucous, it could help train our immune system by exposing it to the germs.

So he says when children have the urge to pick their nose and eat it, parents shouldn’t get upset. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)

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Tetris as a cure for lazy eye? A team of McGill researchers says it works
The popular Russian video game, when combined with a set of specialized goggles that forces someone with lazy eye to use their two eyes together, may help train the brain to eliminate the symptoms of amblyopia. It’s amazing stuff…
[Photo credit: Graham Hughes/Canadian Press]

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Are Canadians awash in environmental toxins? Yes, but we’re still safe, experts say
BPA detected in urine of 95% of Canadians, lead in 100%, Health Canada study finds
[David McNew/Getty Images files]

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Forget staying or going: Should you walk or run for exercise? Which yields the most benefits?
While it isn’t a clear-cut question (variables such as distance and intensity do matter), a new study shows that the health benefits of walking can equal those of running, if you plan your regimen right.
[Photo credit: John Kenney/Postmedia News files]

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Could ‘lab-grown’ kidneys mark a breakthrough for patients awaiting transplants?
Researchers say there’s still a long way to go before engineered kidneys will be used in human transplants, but they say preliminary work on rats has proved that it is possible to bio-engineer a kidney that’s created specifically for an individual patient.
[Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images files]

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If you can make ‘Yak-a-mein soup,’ you can cure a hangover: Study says Southern recipe can remedy morning-after ailments
Deep-fried canary wings, buffalo milk and even an Alka-Seltzer hamburger are among some of the most ridiculous ways people have tried to overcome the aches and pains of a hangover. But researchers from New Orleans say they have found scientific evidence to suggest that the city’s treasured “Yak-a-mein soup,” also  known as “old sober” is actually the best remedy to scare away the toughest of hangovers. (Wikipedia Commons)

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New moms eating their placentas in attempt to beat post-partum depression
Susan Stewart collects fresh human placentas, takes them home and steams them with lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper. Once cooked, she puts the organs in a dehydrator overnight then grinds them and measures the powder out into gel capsules.

The service – the Calgary single mother makes a living at this – costs about $200.

Within a day, she presents new moms with their placentas in pill form – an average human placenta yields about 150 capsules – with promises of renewed energy, better lactation and no post-partum depression. They keep indefinitely.

Placenta-eating has gained some cachet among the natural-birth set, including Mad Men’s January Jones. Ms. Stewart said she became interested in it in 2009, after she was knocked down by depression following the birth of her first child, and she could see little downside from trying it.

“It was natural, it wasn’t from a drug. It was an organ that comes from your body and it’s typically thought of as a disposable organ or medical waste,” she said. (Keith Morison for National Post)

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Male researcher spends 15 years studying female anatomy, concludes that bras are not necessary
Bras do nothing to help support a woman’s breasts and could even be doing damage, research has found.

For years, women have been taught the virtues of a good bra in order to make the most of their assets and defy the pull of gravity. Now a French study has claimed that breasts gain no benefit from underwear support and that women would in fact do better to go without.

Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon, of Besancon University, spent 15 years studying the anatomy of 330 women before concluding that bras are a “false necessity.”