Taking vitamin D2 supplements could actually reduce the levels of vitamin D3 in your body, according to a surprising new study published in Nutrition Reviews.
The finding comes just as much of the Northern Hemisphere heads into autumn – the time when health experts recommend people start supplementing with vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential for regulating calcium and phosphate in the body, which in turn keeps bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Deficiency is common worldwide: in the US, rates are as high as 31 per cent among non-Hispanic Black adults.
But not all vitamin D is created equal. It comes in two main forms: Vitamin D2, which is found in plants and mushrooms, and Vitamin D3, which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight, and also found in animal products such as oily fish.
During the summer, people living in higher latitudes can usually make enough vitamin D through sunlight exposure. In autumn and winter, however, the Sun never rises high enough for this to happen.
“People often think that on a sunny day in October, November and December they’ll make vitamin D,” Prof Susan Lanham-New, head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Surrey and study co-author, told BBC Science Focus. “But they just won’t make any.”
A simple rule of thumb: unless your shadow is shorter than your height, the Sun is not strong enough for vitamin D3 production.
To explore the effects of vitamin D2 supplementation, Emily Brown, a PhD research fellow in Lanham-New’s group, analysed 20 randomised controlled trials. In 18 of them, participants who received vitamin D2 had lower levels of vitamin D3 compared with placebo or control groups.
In northern latitudes during winter, our bodies can’t produce vitamin D – even on sunny days – Credit: Getty
“We don’t want people to think vitamin D2 is in any way dangerous. It’s not,” Brown told BBC Science Focus. “Vitamin D2 still raises your total vitamin D levels, but we think vitamin D3 is preferential.”
Previous research has shown that vitamin D3 is converted more efficiently into the active form of the vitamin than vitamin D2, suggesting it may be a better choice for supplementation, particularly during the darker months.
Brown now plans to investigate the reverse effect: what happens to D2 when people take D3.
The results are especially relevant for vegans, who cannot obtain D3 from traditional dietary sources. Vegan-friendly D3 can be made from lichen, but it is less widely available than D2.
In 2022, scientists even engineered a genetically modified tomato capable of producing D3, and Lanham-New’s team is now testing whether it can boost vitamin D levels in humans.
“We were really astonished that when you give D2, the D3 levels drop below even the placebo,” Lanham-New said.
“There’s a lot more work that we now need to do because the long-term impact could be that you don’t reach the required vitamin D levels or, dare I say it, you could make the situation worse.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage on Wednesday to unveil the company’s next generation of artificial intelligence-powered wearable devices.
They represent the company’s next step toward a future where we all spend less time looking down at a phone screen, but rather interact with Meta’s AI technology — as well as our messages, photos and the rest of our online lives — via glasses not totally unlike the regular prescription lenses or sunglasses we might wear anyway.
The new slate of wearables is also a part of the company’s bid to make its AI technology a bigger part of users’ everyday lives as it competes with other industry players to create the most advanced and widely used models.
“Glasses are the ideal form factor for personal super intelligence because they let you stay present in the moment while getting access to all of these AI capabilities to make you smarter, help you communicate better, improve your memory, improve your senses,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg is announcing the new products during the keynote at Meta’s annual Connect event — where it outlines new AI, virtual and augmented reality and wearable technologies — from its Menlo Park, California, headquarters on Wednesday.
Smart glasses remain a relatively niche product, but consumer adoption is growing fast. Meta’s partner, Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica, said in July that revenue from its Meta glasses more than tripled year-over-year. And the company is seeking to produce 10 million pairs of Meta glasses each year starting in 2026.
Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that the sales trajectory for Meta’s smart glasses are “similar to some of the most popular consumer electronics of all time.”
While Meta was early to making smart glasses that consumers actually want to buy, it faces growing competition from Google, Samsung, Snap and potentially Amazon, raising the stakes for the new technology it’s rolling out starting Wednesday.
Pakistan reiterated its commitment to combating cancer and strengthening international healthcare cooperation at a side event of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna, titled “Beyond Boundaries: The Rays of Hope Anchor Centres Network and the Future of Cancer Care.”
Delivering Pakistan’s statement, Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Dr. Raja Ali Raza Anwar, noted that more than 180,000 new cancer cases are reported annually in the country. To address this burden, PAEC has established 20 cancer hospitals nationwide, serving over 80 percent of patients and providing diagnostic and treatment services either free of charge or at subsidized rates — directly supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on Good Health and Well-Being.
He highlighted Pakistan’s active role in the IAEA’s Rays of Hope initiative, sharing expertise, training, and best practices with developing countries under South-South Cooperation and SDG 17 on Partnerships for the Goals.
Introduction Traditional approaches to supporting neonatal gut health The rise of modern neonatal probiotics Integrating genomic tools into probiotic design Challenges and regulatory considerations The future landscape Conclusions References Further reading
From ancient garlic cures to precision-engineered microbes, discover how neonatal probiotics are being reshaped by genomics and synthetic biology to safeguard the most vulnerable patients.
Image Credit: cristinarosepix / Shutterstock.com
Introduction
The initial 28 days of a newborn’s life, which are otherwise known as the neonatal period, represent a critical window for physiological development. During this period, the newborn gastrointestinal tract transitions from an almost sterile environment to a complex and dynamic microbial ecosystem.1
This nascent gut microbiome is uniquely vulnerable, particularly to the effects of environmental factors like delivery mode, gestational age, feeding practices, and early-life antibiotic exposure.1 Preterm infants are particularly susceptible, as they often experience delayed and aberrant colonization patterns that increase the risk of life-threatening or chronic conditions.1
Establishing a healthy gut microbiome is essential to achieve maturation of the host immune system. Early microbial colonizers are considered the primary architects of immunity, as these microorganisms engage in a bidirectional interplay with host immune cells that co-evolve to establish competence, tolerance, and homeostasis.1
Disruptions to this colonization process, often caused by factors such as cesarean section delivery, formula feeding, or antibiotic exposure, have been linked to growth faltering, inflammation, and an increased long-term risk of metabolic and immune disorders.1
Aberrant disruptions to infant gut microbiota have been implicated in the pathophysiology of severe neonatal diseases like necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), as well as a significantly increased risk of neonatal mortality.1
Your Baby’s Gut Microbiome | GutDr Mini-Explainer
Traditional approaches to supporting neonatal gut health
Garlic (Allium sativum) has been widely used throughout history for its perceived immune-enhancing ethnobotanical properties. Recent chemical analyses have validated the antimicrobial basis of these traditional uses.2
Most ethnobotanical practices involve crushing a garlic clove, a process that leads to the enzymatic conversion of allin into allicin through allinase.2 Allicin and its derivatives ajoenes and allyl sulfides exhibit broad-spectrum bactericidal, anti-biofilm, and anti-quorum-sensing activities, primarily through the formation of disulfide bonds with the sulfhydryl groups of essential microbial enzymes.2
Garlic also exhibits prebiotic properties, as this herb selectively inhibits pathogenic enterobacteria while having a mitigated effect on beneficial Lactobacillus species.2
Despite scientific evidence confirming its potential neonatal benefits, the lack of standardization in dosing, purity, and preparation limits its clinical use.1,3 These limitations create significant safety risks, particularly to infants’ immature organ systems that are susceptible to enhanced toxicity.3 For example, the topical application of raw crushed garlic has been shown to cause severe chemical burns on the delicate skin of infants, a side effect that is rarely observed in adults.4
The rise of modern neonatal probiotics
Numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses support the judicious use of specific probiotic strains to reduce the incidence of severe NEC and all-cause mortality in preterm infants.1,4,5 One example includes a recent comprehensive meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 7,180 preterm infants, which reported that supplementation with Bifidobacterium bifidum G001 (BBG001) significantly reduced NEC, all-cause mortality, and risks.5
However, not all probiotics demonstrate consistent efficacy, and strain-specific effects remain a central challenge in neonatal applications.6,7
Certain probiotic strains exhibit different genetic capacities to metabolize human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are complex carbohydrates in breast milk that are indigestible to the infant and most other gut microbes.6 As a result, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis, a key gut colonizer in healthy breastfed infants, experiences a competitive advantage that allows it to dominate the early gut ecosystem and exclude potential pathogens through resource exclusion.6
Certain metabolic byproducts of HMO fermentation, primarily short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate and butyrate, can enhance the expression of tight junction proteins, thereby supporting gut barrier integrity. These biomolecules may also modulate the neonatal immune system by promoting anti-inflammatory pathways.6
Image Credit: ART-ur / Shutterstock.com
High-throughput technologies, such as whole-genome sequencing (WGS), have enabled the identification of strains, which supports the development of precision probiotics in neonatal care.7 Bioinformatics analyses subsequently analyze genomic data to enable in silico risk screening for virulence factor genes, toxin-producing genes, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) before the strain can be considered for use in infants.7
Annotation tools can also be used to identify genes involved in metabolic pathways and predict a strain’s ability to produce beneficial compounds, such as SCFAs, tolerate host defenses, and/or adhere to the intestinal mucosa.1,4,7 Synthetic biology, an interdisciplinary field that applies engineering principles to biology, is rapidly being explored to incorporate novel functionalities into safe probiotic chassis.8
Examples include engineered probiotics designed to detect gut pathogens, secrete antimicrobial peptides, or modulate host immune responses, thereby offering therapeutic strategies beyond those of natural strains.8
These probiotic strains can be further enhanced by precision genome editing tools, such as CRISPR-Cas systems, and synthetic gene circuits, which are engineered genetic pathways that function like molecular computers.8,9
Challenges and regulatory considerations
Administering live microorganisms to immunologically immature infants, especially those who were born preterm, is associated with numerous risks, including probiotic-associated sepsis. During this type of severe reaction, the probiotic microorganism may translocate across a compromised gut barrier, causing a systemic and potentially fatal infection.7
Global regulatory landscapes have historically treated probiotics as dietary supplements, resulting in poor standardization and a lack of mandated safety or efficacy testing.7 This regulatory gap has resulted in tragic consequences, as demonstrated in October 2023, when the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to healthcare providers after linking probiotic products to over two dozen adverse events since 2018, including one infant death.10
The FDA emphasized that no probiotic has yet been approved as a drug or biologic for infants of any age, underscoring the regulatory hurdles still to be overcome.10
The FDA has since updated its regulatory framework on probiotic supplements. To this end, any probiotic intended to treat, mitigate, or prevent a disease must now undergo the same rigorous Investigational New Drug (IND) application process as any other pharmaceutical product.10
The future landscape
The modern rate of rapid technological advancement, combined with the decreasing cost of sequencing and growing sophistication of synthetic biology tools, may enable the development of “N-of-1” therapeutics.
This involves sequencing an infant’s microbiome at birth using computational models to identify specific microbial or functional deficiencies. Thereafter, infants would be administered a personalized probiotic formulation that has been specifically engineered to restore optimal physiological functionality.8,9
Next-generation probiotics (NGPs), such as Akkermansia muciniphila and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, are under investigation for tailored therapeutic use; however, their long-term safety in neonates remains to be established.7,8
Conclusions
The evolution of neonatal gut health interventions from garlic-based approaches to the design of genomically defined and synthetically programmed probiotics represents a profound advancement in medical science.
Significant safety, manufacturing, and regulatory challenges must be overcome before a ‘theranostics’ future is achieved. Precision probiotic therapies informed by genomics and enabled by synthetic biology have the transformative potential to shift neonatal care from a reactive to a proactive paradigm.
References
Robertson, R. C., Manges, A. R., Finlay, B. B., & Prendergast, A. J. (2019). The Human Microbiome and Child Growth – First 1000 Days and Beyond. Trends in Microbiology27(2); 131–147. DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2018.09.008, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966842X1830204X
El-Saber Batiha, G., Magdy Beshbishy, A., Wasef, L., et al. (2020). Chemical Constituents and Pharmacological Activities of Garlic (Allium sativum L.): A Review. Nutrients12(3); 872. DOI:10.3390/nu12030872, https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/3/872
Woolf, A. D. (2003). Herbal Remedies and Children: Do They Work? Are They Harmful? Pediatrics112(Suppl. 1); 240-246. DOI:10.1542/peds.112.s1.240, https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/112/Supplement_1/240/28747/Herbal-Remedies-and-Children-Do-They-Work-Are-They
Rafaat, M., & Leung, A. K. C. (2000). Garlic Burns. Pediatric Dermatology17(6); 475-476. DOI:10.1046/j.1525-1470.2000.01828.x, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1525-1470.2000.01828.x
Abdullahi, A. M., Zhao, S., & Xu, Y. (2025). Efficacy of probiotic supplementation in preventing necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine38(1). DOI:10.1080/14767058.2025.2485215, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767058.2025.2485215
Chichlowski, M., Shah, N., Wampler, J. L., et al. (2020). Bifidobacterium longum Subspecies infantis (B. infantis) in Pediatric Nutrition: Current State of Knowledge. Nutrients12(6); 1581. DOI:10.3390/nu12061581, https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/6/1581
Merenstein, D., Pot, B., Leyer, G., et al. (2023). Emerging issues in probiotic safety: 2023 perspectives. Gut Microbes15(1). DOI:10.1080/19490976.2023.2185034, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2023.2185034
Tiwari, A., Ika Krisnawati, D., Susilowati, E., et al. (2024). Next-Generation Probiotics and Chronic Diseases: A Review of Current Research and Future Directions. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry72(50); 27679-27700. DOI:10.1021/acs.jafc.4c08702, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.4c08702
Cruz, K. C. P., Enekegho, L. O., & Stuart, D. T. (2022). Bioengineered Probiotics: Synthetic Biology Can Provide Live Cell Therapeutics for the Treatment of Foodborne Diseases. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology10. DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2022.890479, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.890479
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2023, October 26). FDA raises concerns about probiotic products sold for use in hospitalized preterm infants. [Press release]. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-raises-concerns-about-probiotic-products-sold-use-hospitalized-preterm-infants. Accessed
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An 84-year-old man whose home in southeast Puerto Rico served as inspiration for the house that became an iconic symbol at Bad Bunny’s residency this summer sued the superstar on Wednesday.
Román Carrasco Delgado, an unemployed widower, is seeking at least $1 million in damages and emotional distress. The lawsuit alleges that “a large number of people” visit his home daily in the coastal town of Humacao to take pictures and videos, stripping him of his privacy.
“La Casita has been the subject of dozens or hundreds of social media posts and product sales featuring his property, from which he generally receives no benefit,” the lawsuit states. “On the contrary, Don Román is the subject of malicious comments and insinuations that did not occur prior to the publication of the aforementioned video.”
The salmon-colored home with yellow trim and a wraparound porch was featured in Bad Bunny’s short film that launched his “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” album in January. It also served as the model for a real-size home nicknamed “la casita” that was featured at the singer’s 30 concerts where celebrities and musicians ranging from LeBron James and Penélope Cruz to Residente and Belinda hung out and sang alongside the rap star.
“There’s no doubt that La Casita has been the main stage for Bad Bunny concerts, where a host of world-class artists have performed,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also accuses Bad Bunny and three companies — Rimas Entertainment LLC; Move Concerts PR INC; and A1 Productions, LLC — of illicit enrichment.
Representatives for Bad Bunny did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Carrasco told The Associated Press by phone that he came up with the design of the house after his wife said she wanted to return to her hometown of Humacao. He had never built a home, but he got help from his father and his brother, both carpenters.
“I saw her in my mind…and my brother began to doodle,” he said.
The home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a wide, wrap-around porch.
“A house without a porch is not feasible,” he said, adding that it’s the perfect place to visit with friends and tell them, “pull up a chair, sit down and let’s talk here.”
Carrasco said a porch is most comfortable if it’s hot and there’s a small hammock hanging nearby.
It took him and his family about four or five years to build.
“We went block by block. That takes time,” he said.
When asked if it was a surprise for his wife, he laughed: “She was helping.”
The lawsuit notes that Carrasco authorized a scout to use the house in the video, “although he had no detailed knowledge of the form and manner in which the Casita would be used.”
It also says that Carrasco never received a formal or informal proposal from the scout nor details about the video.
The lawsuit states that Carrasco doesn’t know how to read or write but is able to sign his name and accused officials of asking him to sign a white screen on a cell phone.
“These officials fraudulently digitally transferred the aforementioned signature to two different contracts. Initially, these contracts were not delivered to Don Román, nor were their contents explained to him or read to him. The plaintiff was also unable to read them because he lacks such ability,” the lawsuit states, alleging that as result, it voids the contracts.
It notes that Carrasco received two checks totaling $5,200 while the video featuring his home that he and his brother designed and built in the 1960s received 22 million views.
The lawsuit states that while filming the video at Carrasco’s home, people began to take pictures of it as well as measurements.
“In grave disregard for Don Román’s interests, and without his permission, the co-defendants used the measurements and photos taken of Don Román’s Casita to construct an exact copy of it inside the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum of Puerto Rico, to be used in Bad Bunny’s concert series…” the lawsuit reads.
The suit was filed in the Court of First Instance in San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be suspended “indefinitely” after the late night host’s comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk, ABC has announced.
The network, which is owned by Disney, announced on Wednesday night that it would remove Jimmy Kimmel’s show from its schedule for the foreseeable future.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said in a statement. Preempting means ABC will broadcast another show in the slot instead.
ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel came just minutes after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, Nexstar Media, announced it would preempt any episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! set to air on the stations it owns across the country due to his comments.
“Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show,” Nexstar said in a statement. “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
During his opening monologue for Monday night’s show, Kimmel said that “many in Maga-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk”, less than a week after Kirk was shot dead while on a speaking tour in Utah on 10 September.
The suspect, Tyler Robinson, has been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of firearm and witness tampering, and could face the death penalty.
During his Tuesday monologue Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the Maga gang trying to characterise this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Monday’s show Kimmel also criticised US vice president JD Vance for blaming the left for Kirk’s death without evidence while hosting an episode of Kirk’s podcast from the White House.
“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left,” Vance said.
“And by ‘statistical fact’, he means ‘complete bullshit’,” Kimmel said to applause, citing a study that found far-right groups were the greatest source of domestic terror and extremist violence in the US. The Department of Justice has removed the study from its website.
“Here’s a question JD Vance might be able to answer: who wanted to hang the guy who was vice president before you? Was that the liberal left? Or the toothless army who stormed the Capitol on January 6?” he added.
Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, called Kimmel’s comments “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
“Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” Alford said.
Kimmel has yet to issue any statement on the matter.
Interest rates are widely expected to be held at 4% when policymakers at the Bank of England meet on Thursday.
The Bank rate, which heavily influences borrowing costs and savings rates, was cut from 4.25% to 4% by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its last meeting in August.
It took the rate down to its lowest level for more than two years, but many analysts believe there will be no further cuts during the rest of this year.
The decision will be revealed at 12:00 BST and comes after official data on Wednesday showed prices were rising at nearly twice the target level, driven by the higher cost of food.
The rate of inflation remained at 3.8% in August, well above the 2% target. The Bank rate is policymakers’ main tool for controlling inflation.
In theory, making borrowing more expensive means people have less money to spend, which slows prices rises. However, increasing borrowing costs can also harm the economy.
Closely-watched vote
The decision to cut the Bank rate in August was taken after an unprecedented second vote by the nine members of the MPC.
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank, said the decision to cut interest rates was “finely balanced”.
Analysts expect Thursday’s vote to be more clear cut, with no change expected.
The relatively high rate of inflation means policymakers are unlikely to risk pushing that higher by cutting the Bank rate.
However, they do expect the inflation rate to start to drop soon, which leaves the possibility open of further interest rate cuts.
The Bank rate has a big impact on the interest homeowners face when taking out a new fixed-rate mortgage.
Lenders use the Bank rate to set their own rates. As a result, the expectation of interest rate rises can push up mortgage rates while the expectation of interest rate cuts can pull mortgage rates down.
Mortgage rates have dropped very slightly since the MPC’s last meeting in August, but further moves are uncertain, according to Rachel Springall, from the financial information service Moneyfacts.
“Many will be waiting with bated breath for the Budget. This waiting game, alongside forecasts for inflation to remain above target, makes it less likely for the Bank of England to make further rate cuts this year,” she said.
She said that savers had seen a downward trend in returns during the time when the Bank has been lowering the Bank rate.
“The average easy access [savings] rate has fallen further below 3%, so savers must act now and switch their variable rate account if it no longer pays a decent return on their hard-earned cash,” she said.
Global picture
The government would be keen to see interest rates fall further, to boost growth in the UK economy.
The Resolution Foundation think-tank, which which focuses on those on low to middle incomes, said living standards needed to improve after a “lost” 20 years of growth.
But ministers will be aware of the inflationary risk that remains in the UK, especially as prices are rising slower in countries such as the US, Germany, and France.
Thursday’s MPC decision will come after the US central bank chose to cut interest rates on Wednesday to a range of 4% to 4.25% for the first time since December.
Last Thursday, the European Central Bank chose to hold its interest its at 2%.
Little Nightmares III, the upcoming game from Bandai Namco, has released a free demo today across multiple platforms. The demo allows you to control characters Low and Alone as they attempt to escape The Necropolis, a desolate desert city frozen in time while being stalked by the mysterious Monster Baby, and can be experienced either solo or through online co-op with friends on the same console (though progress won’t carry over to the full game).
Little Nightmares III, the upcoming game from Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc., gets a free consumer demo available today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The demo lets players take on the role of Low and Alone as they try find a way out of The Necropolis, a desolated city stopped in time in the middle of a desert where the threat of the mysterious Monster Baby looms at every corner. Players can try the game solo or in online co-op with friends who have the same console. Progress will not be transferred to the final game.
Little Nightmares III lets players follow the story of Low & Alone, two children trapped in the Spiral, a world filled with delusions and dangers that they have to escape. The game can be played either solo or in online co-op with a friend. Little Nightmares III will be available on October 10, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. For more information, visit: www.bandainamcoent.com/games/little-nightmares-3.
For more news on Little Nightmares III, stay tuned to GamingTrend!
A picture taken with a drone shows single-family homes in Woodbridge, Virginia, USA, 02 January 2024.
Aileen Barrameda is planning to buy a house in Los Angeles in the coming months. Stubbornly high mortgage rates – twice what she locked in at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – are not putting her off.
“If I have the means to get in the market, I might as well get in now, because homes are just going to get more expensive,” Aileen said.
The cost of housing is a key concern among Americans and a political talking point. US President Donald Trump had raised hopes that interest rate cuts from the Fed would help Americans get mortgages.
The average rate on the 30-year mortgage, the most popular home loan in the US, fell to 6.35% last week, according to Freddie Mac. This marked the largest weekly decline in the past year and the lowest level in 11 months.
However, for buyers like Aileen, borrowing costs are not guaranteed to come down much more than they already have despite the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut on Wednesday.
Aileen Barrameda
Aileen Barrameda, who is looking to buy a house in Los Angeles, stands on a residential street in the US city.
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions do not directly affect mortgage rates. But they do affect what banks charge each other to borrow money.
That then influences what banks charge their own customers for loans such as mortgages as well as the interest rate they pay on savings.
However, US banks had already cut mortgage rates in anticipation of the Fed rate cut that happened this week, meaning mortgage rates may not fall much further. Prospective home buyers waiting for substantially more easing might be disappointed.
Fed chair Jerome Powell, speaking to journalists on Wednesday, said as much.
“Most analysts think it would have to be pretty big change in rates to matter a lot for the housing sector,” he said, while acknowledging that lower interest rates might boost demand and help builders.
Meanwhile, the risk of rising inflation could push mortgage rates up if banks anticipate this means the Fed will not cut rates any further any time soon. The Fed and other central banks tend to avoid cutting borrowing costs up if they feel inflation is too high.
“I do think that people are expecting a big impact from this,” said Nicole Stewart, a real estate agent with Redfin in Boise, Idaho, referring to the Fed’s rate cut this week.
“I’ve been trying to inform most of my buyers, as well as my sellers, that we’ve already seen the majority of what’s going to happen.”
Ms Stewart said a fall in mortgage rates over the past month has encouraged some buyers. Over the span of just one weekend earlier this month, Ms Stewart wrote four offers and put three deals under contract.
“A huge increase from anything in past few years”, she said.
But the US housing market remains unaffordable for many people. That issue is unlikely to be resolved by future Fed decisions, or by the recent dip in mortgage rates.
Many homeowners secured unusually low mortgage rates – in the 3% range – at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which they are hesitant to give up by selling their home. As such, homeowners who might otherwise downsize are choosing to stay put, reducing the amount of housing available for purchase and driving up home prices.
Roughly 80% of mortgage borrowers have locked in a rate below the current average of 6.35%, said Julia Fonseca, an associate finance professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
While every decline in mortgage rates helps loosen the market a little bit, there are no signs of substantial relief on the horizon, Ms Fonseca said.
“We might be still a long way from normalising these markets,” she said.
Kristin Carlson
Kristin Carlson, a prospective first-time buyer in the Boise, Idaho area, stands on a residential street in Nampa, just outside of Boise.
Kristin Carlson, a prospective first-time buyer in the Boise area, has been scoping out the market for four years, while renting in the meantime.
For Kristin, easing mortgage rates in recent weeks means she is “just that much closer to pulling the trigger”. She said she is eager to purchase soon, to get ahead of a possible scenario in which rates fall substantially further, spurring more competition.
Borrowing costs are factoring into Ms Carlson’s thinking when it comes to the type of home that is feasible for her to purchase – the neighbourhood, the size, the quality of the builder.
Still, mortgage rates are taking a backseat to other considerations, including seasonality and finding a home that is the right fit for her needs.
Modestly lower mortgage rates are offering some relief and spurring activity among buyers, said Matt Vernon, the head of consumer lending at Bank of America. But bigger picture, the dip is not set to be enough to fix a housing market under strain.
“There’s cautious optimism that we’re headed in the right direction,” Mr Vernon said.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily changed buyers’ perception of the challenges in the market, but it’s certainly got their attention.”
Image Credit: ART-ur / Shutterstock.com
