Canada news stories on Newser

Canada OKs World's 1st Stem Cell Therapy

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:59:05 CDT

Canada has approved the world's first stem cell treatment for a systemic disease, Reuters reports. This week, the nation's health regulators allowed doctors to use the drug Prochymal for children with graft-versus host disease (GvHD), a sometimes deadly side-effect from bone marrow transplants. GvHd kills up to 80% of afflicted...

Tsunami Motorcycle Washes Up

Rob Quinn — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:35:48 CDT

As more tsunami debris washes up in North America , more Japanese survivors may be reunited with lost items—but there'll probably be only one motorcycle. A Harley Davidson that had drifted thousands of miles across the Pacific in a container its owner had been using as a garage was found...

Couple Finds Prehistoric Bison in Basement

Rob Quinn — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:06:44 CDT

A Yukon couple digging up their basement to install a power line made a find that has excited paleontologists. What the couple initially believed was a dinosaur bone turned out to be the intact skeleton of a bison that had lain there undisturbed for 10,000 years, reports the Globe...

Mystery Rumble From Detroit Infuriates Canadians

Rob Quinn — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:51:00 CDT

Something strange and noisy is happening on Michigan's Zug Island, complain Canadians in Windsor, on the other side of the Detroit River. The "Windsor hum"—described as a low-pitched rumble—has been annoying residents of the border city for two years. Canadian scientists say they have pinpointed the noise as...

Quest to Be Thin Leads Some to Canada

Mark Russell — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:19:00 CDT

Desperate dieters are increasingly turning to Canada for the intragastric balloon, a popular weight-loss technique available in much of the world but not approved by the FDA, reports the New York Times . Less invasive than gastric bypass surgery or gastric bands, the balloon—inserted in an outpatient procedure—involves placing...

Transgender Beauty Will Likely Compete in Pageant

Rob Quinn — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:28:00 CDT

The Trump organization appears to have had a change of heart about a Canadian beauty who had a change of sex. Jenna Talackova—a transgender contestant booted from the Miss Universe Canada pageant —will be allowed to take part "provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada and...

Canada Phasing Out Pennies

Rob Quinn — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:01:00 CDT

The Canadian government has decided to save millions of dollars by pinching the penny out of existence. The Royal Canadian Mint—which makes 25 pennies per Canadian every year, at a cost of 1.5 cents per coin—will stop producing pennies next month, and the government will start withdrawing...

Miss Universe Execs Boot Transgender Contestant

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:02:00 CDT

Jenna Talackova might look like a babe, but that's not what it says on her birth certificate, so she's getting the boot from Canada's Miss Universe pageant. The transgender contestant from Vancouver might be a "real girl" now, say officials, but pageant rules require that each contender be a "naturally...

Tsunami 'Ghost Ship' Spotted Off Coast

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:47:40 CDT

Canadian air patrol has spotted an empty Japanese squid-fishing boat drifting across the Pacific and heading for land. Beat-up and likely worthless, the 150-foot ship is part of 20 million tons of tsunami debris floating toward US and Canadian shores—so Canadian authorities may just leave it alone, the Vancouver...