(BlackDoctor.org) -- Eating with friends and family tends to increase the amount of food we consume by one-third to three-quarters more total calories. Our friends can persuade us to eat more, the question is: Why? Well, there are a number of factors at play here. It could be that your guard is down, or that you’re focusing on your socializing so you end up unconsciously eating more food. Also, when friends are involved, we tend to eat in restaurants where portions are bigger.

The Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk was found to have faked data. Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press

By NICHOLAS WADE

The world of stem cell research was set reeling two years ago when its most successful practitioner, the Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk, was found to have fabricated much of his work. But according to a new post-mortem of his research, he did achieve a scientific first, though not the one he claimed.