Young adolescents' judgements on how risky a situation might be are most influenced by what other teenagers think, while most other age groups are more influenced by adults' views, finds a new survey by psychologists.

BioBlast Pharma Ltd. has announced positive preclinical in vitro and in vivo proof-of-concept study results for its mitochondrial protein replacement therapy drug candidate (BB-FA) for Friedreich's Ataxia.

Friedreich's Ataxia is an inherited disorder characterized by progressive deterioration of the muscular and nervous system that begins in the first or second decade of life and results in gait disturbance (ataxia), cognitive impairment, progressive heart disease and diabetes. According to Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA), about 1:50,000 people in the U.S. suffer from Friedreich's Ataxia. Most patients are wheelchair-bound within 15 years of diagnosis.

Antioxidants provide long-term protection against the chain reactions of free radical processes, in other words, of the molecules that are capable of causing cell damage and generating various diseases. Free radicals harm our body by causing, in the best of cases, ageing and, in the worse, serious diseases. Lettuce is rich in antioxidants, as it contains compounds like phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and vitamins A and C, among other things.

Green, semi-red and red leaves

Reclusive giant pandas fascinate the world, yet precious little is known about how they spend their time in the Chinese bamboo forests. Until now.

A team of Michigan State University (MSU) researchers who have been electronically stalking five pandas in the wild, courtesy of rare GPS collars, have finished crunching months of data and has published some panda surprises in this month's Journal of Mammalogy.

A camera trap captures a panda walking through the snow in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. Credit: Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration

Traditionally, to understand how a gene functions, a scientist would breed an organism that lacks that gene - "knocking it out" - then ask how the organism has changed. Are its senses affected? Its behavior? Can it even survive? Thanks to the recent advance of gene editing technology, this gold standard genetic experiment has become much more accessible in a wide variety of organisms. Now, researchers at Rockefeller University have harnessed a technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 editing in an important and understudied species: the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which infects hundreds of millions of people annually with the deadly diseases chikungunya, yellow fever, and dengue fever.

Silicon wafer imaging technology has been modified to scan the human body down at the level of a single cell  - zooming in and out of a joint in the body like Google Maps does from the sky.

Coupled with Google algorithms, the imaging system developed by German optical and industrial measurement manufacturer Zeiss is able to zoom in and out from the scale of the whole joint down to the cellular level, reducing to "a matter of weeks analyses that once took 25 years to complete," said Professor Knothe Tate of UNSW Australia.

Boosting the photosynthetic efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields and feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, according to a new report. 

Photosynthetic microbes offer other clues to improving photosynthesis in plants. For example, some bacteria and algae contain pigments that utilize more of the solar spectrum than plant pigments do. If added to plants, those pigments could bolster the plants' access to solar energy. Some scientists are trying to engineer C4 photosynthesis in C3 plants, but this means altering plant anatomy, changing the expression of many genes and inserting new genes from C4 plants.

A recent paper shows that it is possible to replace the clinical follow-up examinations recommended today with abortions that include a home pregnancy test while another paper contends that midwives can safely and effectively treat failed abortions and miscarriages in rural districts of Uganda.

The term 'incomplete abortion' is when there is residual tissue in the uterus following a failed abortion or a miscarriage. This can result in bleeding and infection and is a potentially life-threatening condition that can effectively be treated with the medicine misoprostol. Misoprostol is a prostaglandin analog that causes the uterus to contract and empty its contents.

Do you really cherish diversity? Self-identification on that issue tells us little, studies have shown that in America, liberals, for example, who claim to care more about diversity, are far more likely to unfriend people on social media who disagree with their beliefs, while both liberals and conservatives show a large amount of homophily, which makes them more polarized.

A new class of dopamine receptor antagonists (DARs) could provide a safer means of controlling mosquitoes that transmit key infectious diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and elephantiasis. The new chemicals work by manipulating the neurotransmitter dopamine to lock into protein receptors that span the mosquito cell membrane. Disrupting the mechanics of dopamine, which plays important roles in cell signaling, development and behavior, eventually leads to the insect's death.