Sent a WhatsApp message with an embarrassing typo? You’re now going to have a 15-minute window to edit your messages instead of having to delete them altogether or send a follow-up correction message. The new feature has already been introduced to some users and will be rolled out to all WhatsApp users “in the coming weeks,” WhatsApp said on its official blog.

How to do it: Long-press a message you’ve sent within the 15-minute window and select the edit option from the pop-up menu, then make the edits you want. Once you’re done, the message will have an (edited) disclaimer next to the time stamp, but will not show the edit history to the person receiving the message — so if they missed the original message, nobody’s going to know what you originally wrote.


A biotechnology company is testing skin patches to curb peanut allergies in children:DBV Technologies has published stage 3 results of its research on Viaskin — a skin patch that could significantly reduce the effects of peanut anaphylaxis among toddlers — in the New England Journal of Medicine, according to a statement released earlier this month. So far, the data shows that the patch has a statistically significant effect on reducing symptoms. 1 in 50 children in the US are allergic to peanuts, compared with 1 in 200 adults, research (pdf) shows. Currently, there are no FDA-approved drugs to help manage the condition of children under the age of four, CEO of DBV Technologies Daniel Tassé said.

Research sample and methodology: The data is centered on 413 children between the ages of one and three in eight different countries. While 244 children were made to wear a patch with the equivalent of 0.01% of a peanut — or 250 micrograms of peanut protein — the remaining 118 were given a placebo patch that was placed directly onto the skin. All the children were required to wear the patch for a year while changing it daily.

Research results and goals: At the end of the experiment, 67% of the children exposed to a small dose of peanut displayed better tolerance to the food compared with only 34% of those in the placebo group. If approved by the FDA, the use of the skin patch would sufficiently reduce allergic reactions to protect toddlers from life-threatening symptoms if they accidentally ingest peanuts. Although not a treatment in itself, the patch should reduce anaphylaxis considerably.