In Slate, Jezebel.com staff writer Lindy West has an interesting review on a new book by Florence Williams that came out this week: Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. According to West, the book offers a comprehensive social, cultural, medical, and scientific history of the human breast, with writing that is “scientifically detailed yet warm and accessible.”

An excerpt from the review:

Williams’ journey begins when, alarmed by a news article about toxins in breast milk, she decides to get her own milk tested. And, surprise! It’s packed with toxins—specifically, chemical flame retardants—that Williams is funneling directly into her baby. (“Well, at least your breasts won’t spontaneously ignite!” her husband jokes, because that’s exactly what you want to hear when adjusting to the news that you’re a human baby-poison factory.) This sends her down a rabbit hole in search of deeper understanding of her own anatomy— into the evolutionary history of mammals, to Peru to investigate nursing and weaning, back to the first breast augmentation surgery, and all over the world to interview more boob experts than you can shake a pasty at.

And she discovers that breasts are complicated. Impossibly so. She learns that it’s the breast’s permeability that make it such an evolutionary powerhouse (lots and lots of estrogen receptors help human puberty occur at the optimal time; nutrient-rich breast milk makes for giant brains)—but that same permeability is also, partially, what causes one in eight women to develop breast cancer. Our breasts make us great but they also make us vulnerable, and you can’t help but come away from Williams’ book feeling a bit helpless. (Self-examinations! Self-examinations are key!) While she makes the story as dynamic as possible, there’s no escaping that this is science journalism—there are lots of PBDE levels and octa-203 and penta-47 and dioxin and “lobule type 4” and other such enemies of lively prose. But that’s OK—there are enough surprises and genuinely horrifying learning moments to keep a reader (especially a lady-reader), uh, latched on.

The review concludes with “Five Things I Learned About Breasts From Florence Williams’ Breasts,” with West taking a comedic approach, surprisingly, without undermining the book’s implications. Parting quips aside, the book appears to delve into uncharted areas of breast science and sociology, offering a fascinating exploration of the past, present and future of breasts, and what we can do to save them.

Amazon.com, I’ll take two please.

You can read the full review here: Your Breasts Are Trying to Kill You.

[ From slate.com (via: boingboing.net) ]

The FDA has approved the Sientra cohesive gel implant for use by women over the age of 22 or for any woman needing reconstructive surgery. Sientra has said they will offer additional shapes beyond the round implants offered by the current providers Allergan Inc and Mentor.

Sientra will be subject to the same requirements for long-term study as the two existing providers.

[ USA Today ]

The recent PIP breast implant scandal that has affected more than 30,000 women worldwide is pushing medical device companies to make their products easier to trace. This interview highlights a company that is coming up with new microchip technologies that could be part of the solution.

[ From: ca.news.yahoo.com ]

photo: EBbra

No folks, this is not an infomercial. The Emergency Bra is real – and it could save your life if faced with nuclear disaster.

Dr. Elena Bodnar won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize for the Emergency Bra, an invention that doubles as a stylish bra and face mask. In the event of a disaster, simply unsnap the bra, separate the cups, slip one over your head, and slip one on to your partner.

The bra, which is now available for purchase online, came as a result of Bodnar studying the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Bodnar found that “if people had had cheap, readily available gas masks in the first hours after the disaster… they may have avoided breathing in Iodine-131, which causes radiation,” reported Fox News.

“You have to be prepared all the time, at any place, at any moment, and practically every woman wears a bra,” she said.

Despite all the seriousness, Bodnar remained light-hearted in the video below of her Ig Nobel prize acceptance speech by removing her bra and demonstrating how the device works on fellow Nobel laureates:

And if you don’t feel like watching the whole speech, I believe the following quote sums up just how genius this invention is:

“Ladies and gentlemen, isn’t that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us.”

Smart woman, eh?

[ From: salon.com ]