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Experts have warned that the international banana industry is under threat from the disease called Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4). The disease has largely affected banana plantation in several parts of the world.

It has been found that a work to cope with this issue has been undergoing at a large scale in the Central American country of Costa Rica. The banana crop, which has been affected the most, is the popular Cavendish variety.

Some experts have also warned that if the disease is not controlled in time then it might lead in annihilation of the global banana industry.

A late-stage study that was testing an experimental obesity drug by Zafgen Inc has been put on hold by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after death of second person during the trial.

Shares of the company also dropped 7.4% to $5.81 in extended trading after closing down 60% on Wednesday. A complete clinical hold by FDA means all clinical work requested under the company's investigational new drug application has been suspended.

The company on Wednesday said in a statement that a patient receiving the obesity drug, beloranib, had died from a blockage in an artery in the lung.

The company has been testing Zafgen beloranib for a rare genetic eating disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. The results of the study are expected to come in the first quarter.

Too much television-watching by young adults could result in cognitive problems about 25 years later, according to a new study. The couch potato lifestyle with low physical activities may take young people to be at high risk of damaging cognitive ability, it said.

The study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry included more than 3,000 individuals. Study researchers examined the participants when they were approximately 25 years old. The study was ended when the individuals took cognitive tests about 25 years later.

Tina Hoang, a researcher from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco and co-author on the study, said, “There are so many more opportunities for sitting now that it's even more of a concern, than when the study started, in the 1980s”.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) alleged that Google is spying on school children through its Chromebooks. The international non-profit digital rights group has now asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Google over the matter.

In a complaint filed earlier, EFF said Google is collecting personal data from kids using the company’s Chromebooks in classrooms. According to the non-profit, Google for Education has been collecting the data and disobeying the terms of Student Privacy Pledge that the company signed earlier this year.

The EFF said during ‘Spying on Students’ campaign, it found that some Google practices were doubtful. It said that the tech giant isn’t collecting children’s data to advertise it, but to track data about students' browsing activities.

E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill not only affected those 45 individuals who fell ill after eating at 17 restaurants of the company, but it also gave pain to the Denver-based restaurant chain.

Analysts have predicted that investors of Chipotle Mexican Grill are going to see more volatile days. They are telling the investors that the company’s tough time isn’t over. Earlier, the company experienced a sharp blow when CMG dropped by 6% to about $574.66. When it comes to total, the company is off $157.42 per share.

A stir has been caused by a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. The work was described by The Washington Post. The study suggested that brains can't actually belong to the categories of ‘male’ or ‘female’, their unique features actually differ across a spectrum.

The news is very exciting for the ones who study the brain or gender. The study is a step towards validating the experiences of the ones living outside the gender binary.

While describing the significance of their work, the study researchers said their results show that despite the cause of observed sex/gender differences in brain and behavior, classification of human brains can’t be done into 2 distinct categories: male brain/female brain.