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NASA, Oxford Discover Warmer Uranus Than Once Thought
- Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune each emit more energy than they receive from the Sun, meaning they have comparatively warm interiors.
- NASA’s Uranus flyby with Voyager 2 in 1986 found the planet colder than expected, which challenged ideas of how planets formed and evolved.
- However, with advanced computer modeling and a new look at old data, scientists think the planet may actually be warmer than previously expected.
For millennia, astronomers thought Uranus was no more than a distant star. It wasn’t until the late 18th century that Uranus was universally accepted as a planet. To this day, the ringed, blue world subverts scientists’ expectations, but new NASA research helps puzzle out some of the world’s mystique.
This zoomed-in image of Uranus, captured by the Near-Infrared Camera on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Feb. 6, 2023, reveals stunning views of Uranus’ rings.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Uranus is unlike any other planet in our solar system. It spins on its side, which means each pole directly faces the Sun for a continuous 42-year “summer.” Uranus also rotates in the opposite direction of all planets except Venus. Data from NASA’s Voyager 2 Uranus flyby in 1986 also suggested the planet is unusually cold inside, challenging scientists to reconsider fundamental theories of how planets formed and evolved throughout our solar system.
“Since Voyager 2’s flyby, everybody has said Uranus has no internal heat,” said Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But it’s been really hard to explain why that is, especially when compared with the other giant planets.”
These Uranus projections came from only one up-close measurement of the planet’s emitted heat made by Voyager 2: “Everything hinges on that one data point,” said Simon. “That is part of the problem.”
Now, using an advanced computer modeling technique and revisiting decades of data, Simon and a team of scientists have found that Uranus does in fact generate some heat, as they reported on May 16 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.
A planet’s internal heat can be calculated by comparing the amount of energy it receives from the Sun to the amount it of energy it releases into space in the form of reflected light and emitted heat. The solar system’s other giant planets – Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune – emit more heat than they receive, which means the extra heat is coming from inside, much of it left over from the high-energy processes that formed the planets 4.5 billion years ago. The amount of heat a planet exudes could be an indication of its age: the less heat released relative to the heat absorbed from the Sun, the older the planet is.
Uranus stood out from the other planets because it appeared to give off as much heat as it received, implying it had none of its own. This puzzled scientists. Some hypothesized that perhaps the planet is much older than all the others and has cooled off completely. Others proposed that a giant collision – the same one that may have knocked the planet on its side – blasted out all of Uranus’ heat. But none of these hypotheses satisfied scientists, motivating them to solve Uranus’ cold case.
“We thought, ‘Could it really be that there is no internal heat at Uranus?’” said Patrick Irwin, the paper’s lead author and professor of planetary physics at the University of Oxford in England. “We did many calculations to see how much sunshine is reflected by Uranus and we realized that it is actually more reflective than people had estimated.”
The researchers set out to determine Uranus’ full energy budget: how much energy it receives from the Sun compared to how much it reflects as sunlight and how much it emits as heat. To do this, they needed to estimate the total amount of light reflected from the planet at all angles. “You need to see the light that’s scattered off to the sides, not just coming straight back at you,” Simon said.
To get the most accurate estimate of Uranus’ energy budget yet, Oxford researchers developed a computer model that brought together everything known about Uranus’ atmosphere from decades of observations from ground- and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. The model included information about the planet’s hazes, clouds, and seasonal changes, all of which affect how sunlight is reflected and how heat escapes.
These side-by-side images of Uranus, taken eight years apart by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, show seasonal changes in the planet’s reflectivity. The left image shows the planet seven years after its northern spring equinox when the Sun was shining just above its equator. The second photo, taken six years before the planet’s summer solstice, portrays a bright and large northern polar cap.
Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)
The researchers found that Uranus releases about 15% more energy than it receives from the Sun, a figure that is similar to another recent estimate from a separate study funded in part by NASA that was published July 14 in Geophysical Research Letters. These studies suggest Uranus it has its own heat, though still far less than its neighbor Neptune, which emits more than twice the energy it receives.
“Now we have to understand what that remnant amount of heat at Uranus means, as well as get better measurements of it,” Simon said.
Unraveling Uranus’ past is useful not only for mapping the timeline of when solar system planets formed and migrated to their current orbits, but it also helps scientists better understand many of the planets discovered outside the solar system, called exoplanets, a majority of which are the same size as Uranus.
By Emma Friedman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.Continue Reading
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Insomniacs with inflammation prone to depression, researchers say
Seniors with insomnia were three times as likely to report symptoms of depression if they’d been dosed with a substance that promotes inflammation, according to results published Wednesday. Adobe stock/HealthDay
July 17 (UPI) — Insomniacs have a much higher risk for depression if they have chronic inflammation, a new sleep lab experiment says.
Seniors with insomnia were three times as likely to report symptoms of depression if they’d been dosed with a substance that promotes inflammation, according to results published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.
“Insomnia not only robs older adults of rest but also primes their immune system to make them uniquely vulnerable to depression when faced with inflammation,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Irwin, director of UCLA Health’s Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology.
“Treatments targeted at this inflammation-related depression may prevent depression and benefit these patients to improve their overall quality of life,” he said in a news release.
For the study, researchers recruited 160 adults 60 and older in Los Angeles, of whom 53 had insomnia.
Roughly half of the participants were exposed to an endotoxin intended to create short-term inflammation, including 26 people with insomnia and 53 healthy sleepers.
Results showed that insomniacs with inflammation were three times more likely to have depressive mood and symptoms than healthy sleepers with inflammation.
People with insomnia also were depressed far longer after their inflammation was induced, showing a bummed mood for six hours or longer. By comparison, any increases in depression among healthy sleepers were short-lived, researchers said.
Chronic inflammation has already been tied to illnesses like heart disease and cancer, researchers said in background notes.
As humans age, more inflammation is likely to occur as cells wear down and the immune system falters, researchers said. This can be made even worse by illness, stress, unhealthy habits or pain.
It’s possible that chronic sleep loss can make the brain more susceptible to inflammation, researchers said. Inflammatory biochemicals might be more able to slip into sleep-deprived brains, or a lack of sleep might prime brain cells to react more to inflammation.
“This rigorous, experimentally controlled randomized clinical trial found for the first time that inflammatory challenge with endotoxin induces increases in depressed mood and depressive symptoms in older adults and that depression responses were robustly exaggerated, both in magnitude and duration, in older adults with insomnia compared to those without insomnia,” researchers concluded in their paper.
Further study is needed to show whether controlling inflammation might reduce depression in people with insomnia, researchers said.
More information
Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on depression and sleep.
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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State AI leaders gather at Princeton to consider how the technology can improve public services
Much of the news about artificial intelligence has focused on how it will change the private sector. But all around the country, public officials are experimenting with how AI can also transform the way governments provide essential services to citizens while avoiding pitfalls.
State AI leaders, including Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, gathered at Princeton University in June to discuss how AI offers ways for government to be more efficient, effective, and transparent, especially at a time when budgets are strapped and economic uncertainty has slowed down hiring.
Hosted by Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP), the NJ AI Hub, the State of New Jersey, the National Governors Association, the Center for Public Sector AI, GovLab, and InnovateUS, the conference brought together more than 100 AI leaders from 25 states to share ideas and collaborate. The meeting was conducted under an agreement of confidentiality to allow participants to discuss progress and concerns openly. Quotations in this story are used by permission.
What emerged was enthusiasm about AI’s potential to reduce the time government employees spend on manual tasks and improve their ability to engage citizens, as well as concerns about how best to use public data to innovate and increase equity rather than undermine it.
The gathering is just one of the ways that CITP — which is a joint center of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and Princeton Engineering — is leading on AI. The center also holds policy precepts to engage policymakers in AI governance at the SPIA in DC Center, and several affiliated faculty teach courses on AI policy at Princeton SPIA.
At the conference, CITP Director Arvind Narayanan noted that attendees were focused on practical implementation of AI tools rather than the “polarizing conversations around AI that dominate the media.” He also explained why public-facing deployments of AI by state governments have been slower than internal ones.
“There’s a clear recognition of the need for thinking about public accountability and equity,” said Princeton’s Arvind Narayanan. “At the same time, I think there’s also recognition of the potential for governments if we get this right.” “There’s a clear recognition of the need for thinking about public accountability and equity. At the same time, I think there’s also recognition of the potential for governments if we get this right,” said Narayanan, who is also a professor of computer science and co-author of “AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference.”
Speakers shared big and small ways that AI is improving government. Some noted saving an hour or two a week per employee by leveraging AI to help draft grant applications, assess legislation, or review procurement policies while ensuring oversight and accuracy. One city automated the summarization of council oral votes, a task that was previously completed by a city clerk, creating summaries of 20 years of council books in a short period of time at nearly zero cost. As a result, voters have a simpler way to access information and hold elected officials accountable.
In his remarks, Gov. Phil Murphy laid out how New Jersey is approaching the technology, including its partnership with Princeton on the NJ AI Hub.
“We held hands and jumped into the AI space,” Murphy said of the state’s partnership with the University. Together with Microsoft and New Jersey-based AI company CoreWeave, the state and University launched the NJ AI Hub earlier this year to foster AI innovation. “I don’t think we’d be all in if we didn’t think that the probabilities were very high that a lot of good things could go right with AI, but I think we also have to acknowledge some of the tensions that are still playing themselves out.”
Murphy highlighted concerns about AI’s potential to empower bad actors, as well as its impact on human creativity, jobs, and equity.
“Is this going to be something that is a huge wealth generator for the few, or are we going to be able to give access to this realm to everybody?” he said.
One of the ideas attendees considered at the conference was building a public AI infrastructure that would ensure it remains an open-source technology, rather than becoming privately controlled by a few companies. Bringing AI into the public domain would also present an opportunity to build in controls and mechanisms for accountability, speakers noted. They argued that AI is foundational infrastructure, not unlike roads, bridges, and broadband.
At the end of the two-day gathering, Anne-Marie Slaughter, chief executive of New America and former Princeton SPIA dean, reflected on the conference. She emphasized what others had said about needing to be transparent in how AI is used and ensuring that public trust in government is strengthened.
“[AI] doesn’t just transform how government does things better, faster, cheaper. It can transform what government does and, even more importantly, what government in a democracy is,” Slaughter said. “You can start to co-create and you can start to co-govern.”
Posing with Gov. Phil Murphy at the conference are (left to right) Cassandra Madison of the Center for Public Sector AI, CITP Director Arvind Narayanan, New Jersey Chief AI Strategist Beth Simone Noveck, Timothy Blute of the National Governors Association and Jeffrey Oakman, senior strategic AI Hub project manager at Princeton. Continue Reading
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Peacock increases subscription price by $3 a month
NBCUniversal’s Peacock is rolling out a $3-a-month price hike for most streaming customers.
Beginning July 23, Peacock Premium will cost $10.99 a month, up from the current $7.99 fee, the company announced Thursday. The Premium Plus option will jump to $16.99 a month, up from $13.99.
Customers can pay $109.99 for an annual plan of Peacock Premium or $169.99 a year for its Premium Plus option.
Peacock is not the first streaming service to raise its fees as the cost of sports and other programming escalates.
Netflix raised its price on most plans in January, with its commercial-free standard plan increasing $2.50 a month to $17.99.
Media companies have been ratcheting up the fees as they struggle to transition from highly profitable but declining business models, including a heavy reliance on pay-TV distribution fees.
This spring, the share of viewers watching programs on streaming services eclipsed viewership of linear channels as traditional television companies increasingly focus on their streaming products.
Comcast-owned NBCUniversal has lost billions of dollars building its Peacock streaming service, which launched five years ago. The payoff remains elusive as the service lags Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others in terms of subscriber counts and audience share.
Depending on billing cycles, some current Peacock subscribers will see the increases in their bills around Aug. 22.
NBCUniversal said it would test a new Peacock “Select” tier, which will feature current seasons of NBC and Bravo shows and library titles for the former Peacock Premium price of $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year.
The company touted its programming including “Love Island USA.”
In the television season that begins in September, Peacock will have “Sunday Night Football,” NBA, WNBA, Premier League, Big Ten and the FIFA World Cup soccer championships in Spanish. It will also broadcast the Super Bowl and Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics in February 2026.
Surges in pricing come as consumers have faced several years of inflation and economic uncertainty. People who ditched their pricey cable bundles in favor of cheaper streaming services have found their total monthly subscriptions can add up quickly.
Staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.
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New Barbie with type 1 diabetes could help kids with the condition feel seen – and help others learn
Barbie has done many things since she first appeared in 1959. She’s been an astronaut, a doctor, a president and even a palaeontologist. Now, in 2025, Barbie is something else: a woman with type 1 diabetes.
Mattel’s latest Barbie was recently launched by Lila Moss, a British model who lives with type 1 diabetes. The doll comes with a visible insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor, devices many people with diabetes rely on.
To some people, this might seem like just another version of the doll. But to kids living with type 1 diabetes – especially young girls – it’s a big deal. This new Barbie is not just a toy. It’s about being seen.
What is type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the body stops making insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar levels.
It’s not caused by lifestyle or diet. It’s an autoimmune condition (a disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells) and often starts in childhood.
People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day, often through multiple injections or an insulin pump. They also need to check their blood sugar regularly, using finger pricks or a continuous glucose monitor worn on the skin (usually the upper arm).
Although type 1 diabetes can be effectively managed, there is no cure.
Millions of people across the world live with this condition, and numbers are on the rise. In Australia, type 1 diabetes affects more than 13,000 children and teens, while in New Zealand, around 2,500 children under 18 have type 1 diabetes. Globally, 1.8 million young people are affected.
Children with type 1 diabetes may wear a continuous glucose monitor.
Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels
Managing type 1 diabetes isn’t easy for children
Young people with type 1 diabetes must think about their condition every day – at school, during sports, at sleepovers and even while playing. They may have to stop what they’re doing and check their blood sugar levels. It can feel isolating and frustrating.
Stigma is a big issue for children and young people with type 1 diabetes. Some young people feel embarrassed using their insulin pumps or checking their blood sugar in public. One study found pre-teens with diabetes sometimes felt they received unwanted attention when using devices such as insulin pumps and glucose monitors.
Stigma can make young people less likely to take care of their diabetes, which can create problems for their health.
Seeing a Barbie with an insulin pump and glucose monitor could make a significant difference.
Children form their sense of identity early, and toys play a surprisingly powerful role in that process. While children with type 1 diabetes can often feel different from their peers, toys can help normalise their experience and reduce the sense of isolation that can come with managing a chronic condition.
Research shows toys and media such as books and TV shows reflecting children’s experiences can boost self-esteem, reduce stigma and improve emotional wellbeing.
For girls especially, Barbie is more than a doll. She represents what is often perceived to be admired or desirable and this can influence how girls perceive their own bodies. A Barbie with a glucose monitor and insulin pump sends a clear message: this is part of real life. You’re not alone.
That kind of visibility is empowering. It tells children their condition doesn’t define them or limit their potential. It also helps challenge outdated stereotypes about illness and disability.
Some may worry a doll with a medical condition might make playtime too serious or scary. But in reality, play is how kids learn about the world. Toys that reflect real life – including health issues – can help children process emotions, ask questions, reduce fear and feel more in control.
Read more:
Whatever happened to Barbie’s feet? Podiatrists studied 2,750 dolls to find out
A broader shift towards inclusivity and representation
Mattel’s new Barbie shows diabetes and the devices needed to manage the condition in a positive, everyday way, and that matters. It can start conversations and help kids without diabetes learn what those devices are and why someone wears them. It builds understanding early.
Mattel has added to its range of Barbies in recent years to showcase the beauty that everyone has. There are now Barbies with a wide range of skin tones, hair textures, body types and disabilities – including dolls with hearing aids, vitiligo (loss of skin pigmentation) and wheelchairs. The diabetes Barbie is part of this broader shift toward inclusivity and should be applauded.
Every child should be able to find toys that reflect who they are, and the people they love.
This Barbie won’t make diabetes go away. But she might help a child feel more seen, more confident, more like their peers. She might help a classmate understand that a glucose monitor isn’t scary – it’s just something some people need. She might make a school nurse’s job easier when explaining to teachers or students how to support a student with diabetes.
Living with type 1 diabetes as a child is tough. Anything that helps kids feel a little more included, and a little less different, is worth celebrating. A doll might seem small. But to the right child, at the right moment, it could mean everything.
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Connie Francis’ ‘Pretty Little Baby’ became an unexpected TikTok hit — 63 years after its release
Connie Francis was a giant of 1950s and ’60s sugary-sweet pop, notching more than a dozen hits. In the months leading up to her death, announced Thursday, she experienced one more in “Pretty Little Baby,” which has become a viral hit on TikTok six decades after its release.
As of Thursday, more than 22.5 million TikTok videos have been created using the sound, often partnering videos of baby animals, toddlers, makeup tutorials and retro fashions. According to TikTok, those videos have amassed more than 45.5 billion views, globally. Celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and North West have used it, too, with West lip-syncing along to the track.
Hooky, feel-good pop songs tend to do well on TikTok, and 1962’s “Pretty Little Baby” is an exemplar of that phenomenon. Users gravitated toward the song’s wholesome simplicity, sweet vocals, delicate organ and upstroke riffs. “You can ask the flowers / I sit for hours / Telling all the bluebirds / The bill and coo birds / Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you,” Francis swoons on the verse that has picked up steam on the platform.
And all of this has transpired in mere months: According to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company, “Pretty Little Baby” was earning just over 17,000 on-demand audio streams in the U.S. during the week ending April 10. A month later, that number had climbed to 2.4 million. That’s a growth of over 7,000%. The song has earned over 29 million streams this year so far.
In one popular video, which garnered over 56 million views, a user posted about baby teething hacks for first-time moms. Another user, Amari Goins, posted a video, with over 112 million views, of her 2-year-old daughter singing along to the lyrics, noting that her toddler picked up the song because of how often they heard it on TikTok.
Most recently, TikTok users have begun posting covers of “Pretty Little Baby” as part of a singing challenge, where they exaggerate Francis’ performance with their own stylized vocal runs. Francis, who died at 87, herself joined TikTok as a result of her song’s popularity, and her first two videos — which earned 16.3 million and 31.2 million views, respectively — furthered engagement. In her first video, posted in early June, she said she was “flabbergasted and amazed” at the song’s resurgence.
“To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is captivating new generations of audiences is truly overwhelming for me,” Francis said in that first post, which she followed with a clip of herself lip-syncing to the song.
For decades, the song lived in relative obscurity — written by Don Stirling and Bill Nauman for Francis, it was never a single and was originally released in the U.K. as the B-side of her 1962 single “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter.” It appears on her album “Connie Francis Sings ‘Second Hand Love,’” released the same year. More than 60 years later, the song reached No. 20 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart in June 2025 and hit both the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under chart and the Billboard Global 200.
In Francis’ last TikTok video, posted late last month, she thanked the “many wonderful artists” who paid tribute to her, and all the users who sang along with her.
Peter Lemongello Jr., a singer and performer who called Francis a friend, posted a TikTok in May where he sang the song to Francis, what he wrote on Facebook was “one of the greatest and most exciting moments of my career so far.” The video garnered over 15 million views.
“There are no words to express this monumental loss,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. “I will be forever grateful to her for the help she gave me with my career.”
Ian Paget, a TikTok creator, posted a tearful video Thursday and said he hopes Francis and her family “have felt that love from the younger crowd learning who she is.”
The TikTok popularity of “Pretty Little Baby” prompted her label Republic/UMe Records to reissue versions Francis had sung in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish in 1962. Bruce Resnikoff, president and CEO of UMe, wrote in a statement that the global catalog division was saddened but took “comfort in knowing how joyful and fulfilled she felt in these last few months, as a new generation discovered her music and celebrated her legacy.”
In May, as the song took off, Francis thanked TikTok and its users for “the wonderful, and oh so unexpected, reception” in a Facebook post.
As for her reaction to having a “viral hit”? She continued: “Clearly out of touch with present day music statistics terminology, my initial response was to ask: ‘What’s that?’ Thank you everyone!”
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Are Common Cold Coronaviruses a Hidden Variable in COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness?
A new peer-reviewed study published in npj Vaccines by researchers at Sanofi Vaccines R&D and academic collaborators has provided important clarity on a long-debated immunological concern: whether immunity from past infections with common cold coronaviruses affects the body’s response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The answer, based on a detailed analysis of over 430 healthy adult trial participants, appears to be no.
The study is based on data from the VAT00001 Phase I/II clinical trial, which evaluated stabilized prefusion SARS-CoV-2 spike protein vaccine candidates later licensed as booster shots. It aimed to assess whether pre-existing antibodies to four endemic human coronaviruses (HCoVs)—OC43, 229E, NL63, and HKU1—could interfere with the generation of neutralizing or binding antibodies following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.
No Interference from Prior Coronavirus Exposure
Researchers found that every participant had detectable antibodies to all four common cold coronaviruses at baseline—an expected finding given their widespread circulation. However, these pre-existing antibodies did not influence the magnitude or quality of the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein vaccine. Neither neutralizing antibody titers nor spike-binding antibody levels showed any significant relationship to HCoV antibody levels prior to vaccination.
“We found no meaningful predictive association between pre-existing binding antibody responses to four endemic coronaviruses and either neutralizing or binding responses to SARS-CoV-2,” the authors wrote.
Vaccine Formulation and Dosing—Not HCoV Exposure—Drove Response
Instead of prior viral exposure, the key factors influencing the vaccine-induced immune response were the dose and schedule of vaccine administration. The study reaffirmed that optimized vaccine formulation is the dominant determinant of immune response quality, not host exposure history to other coronaviruses.
Public Health and Biosecurity Implications
This research offers crucial validation for continued confidence in SARS-CoV-2 vaccines—especially important as global vaccine strategies diversify beyond mRNA platforms. Concerns about “immune imprinting,” or original antigenic sin, have loomed large in discussions about vaccine effectiveness and safety. Theoretical risks of vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD), particularly among individuals with prior exposure to other coronaviruses, were a major hurdle in the early days of COVID-19 vaccine development.
This study directly addresses and dispels one such concern, showing no immunological interference from the body’s memory of endemic coronaviruses. It also aligns with findings from mRNA vaccine studies that reached similar conclusions in different populations.
Why This Matters
The findings are not only relevant to immunologists and vaccine developers—they have direct implications for public health strategy and global health security. Broad immunization coverage remains a cornerstone of pandemic preparedness. Demonstrating that nearly universal prior exposure to common cold coronaviruses does not impair vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2 strengthens the case for using protein-based vaccine platforms in diverse populations.
This evidence helps support rapid deployment in future coronavirus outbreaks, without the need to account for individual differences in prior HCoV exposure.
Future Directions
Additional studies could further clarify whether very recent HCoV illnesses might transiently affect immune system behavior. Still, in the context of this well-controlled clinical trial, the lack of any predictive effect across age groups and dosing regimens offers strong evidence that past common cold coronavirus infections are not a barrier to effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.
de Bruyn G, Adhikarla H, Brackett CK, et al. Prior human endemic coronavirus exposure does not affect humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccines. npj Vaccines. 13 July 2025.
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The UK says it will lower its voting age to 16. Could the U.S. follow suit? : NPR
People walk past a sign for a polling station during local council elections in Folkestone, England in May. The British government is announcing plans to lower the voting age to 16.
Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures via Getty Images
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Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures via Getty Images
The British government says it will introduce legislation to lower the voting age from 18 to 16, as part of a slew of reforms aimed at modernizing U.K. democracy.
Officials announced a number of what they called “seismic changes” on Thursday, which include allowing bank cards to be used as voter ID and tightening rules on political donations.
The most headline-grabbing shift, however, is that 16- and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote starting in the next general election. It must be held by August 2029, though the prime minister can choose to call one sooner.
“We cannot take our democracy for granted, and by protecting our elections from abuse and boosting participation we will strengthen the foundations of our society for the future,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said in a statement.
The Labour Party campaigned in part on lowering the voting age last year — in an election with just 59.7% turnout, the lowest since 2001. The reforms must pass Parliament to become law, which appears likely since the Labour Party has a majority in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords traditionally does not block bills promised in the governing party’s platform.
Scotland and Wales already allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in certain local elections. This newly proposed change will permit some 1.6 million teenagers to vote in all U.K. elections, according to Reuters.
About 90% of countries and territories around the world have a voting age of 18 or higher, according to UNICEF. The U.K. joins a small but growing list of those that have reduced it to 16 and/or 17, including Australia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece and Indonesia.
A third of U.S. states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 by the time of the general election. And a dozen U.S. cities — most of them in Maryland — allow people as young as 16 to vote, either in school board elections or all local elections, according to the National Youth Rights Association, which advocates for young people.
Alberto Medina, the communications team lead at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), a Tufts University program focused on the political life of young people in the U.S., is encouraged to see Britain expanding young peoples’ voice and participation in the political process.
“It’s exciting to see this happening at a national level,” Medina says. “And I think it’s something definitely worth paying attention to as we think about how to continue improving youth participation here in the U.S.”
Voters cast ballots at a high school in Upper Marlboro, Maryland on Election Day 2024. Several cities in Maryland and other states allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in some local elections.
Graeme Sloan for The Washington Post/via Getty Images
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Graeme Sloan for The Washington Post/via Getty Images
What are the pros and cons?
Lowering the voting age is a divisive issue, both in the U.K. and the U.S.
The general criticism is that 16-year-olds are not mature enough to participate in elections, both in terms of brain development and political knowledge.
It’s also a politically touchy subject because of concerns that younger voters will support liberal parties over conservatives, in line with recent generational trends. Though Medina notes it’s not necessarily that clear cut, especially in the U.S.: While voters under 30 have long been a bastion for Democrats, they swung heavily towards President Trump in 2024.
Advocates for lowering the age say 16-year-olds may be equally or even better informed than other voters because they’re in school, where they can learn about elections, discuss current events and get support for registering.
And they say that if 16-year-olds can drive, work and join the military, they should be able to cast a vote. The Vietnam War, which drafted millions of Americans as young as 18, was a big factor in lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, Medina notes.
In the U.K., it is legal for 16-year-olds to join the Army as soldiers (with parental consent) and work full time, meaning some already pay taxes. That’s one of the main arguments in favor of the change.
“I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.
But critics, including in the Conservative Party, have pointed out that 16-year-olds cannot legally buy a drink or a lottery ticket, get married or run for office in the U.K. And they doubt the change will actually drive more young people to the polls.
A recent poll of 500 16- and 17-year-olds by Merlin Strategy for ITV News found that only 18% said they would definitely vote if there was an election tomorrow. But support for lowering the voting age was more evenly split, with 51% in favor.
What does the data say?
In the U.K., a study looking at the 2021 Welsh Parliament election — the first in which 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote — characterized it as a “false start,” arguing the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted both the education system and the election process.
But a 2023 study from the University of Edinburgh found that younger first-time voters in Scotland “retain a habit” of voting in elections once they start, and participate in greater numbers than older first-time voters.
While data about the impact of younger voting is relatively limited — because it’s so rare — Medina says “the field has known for a very long time that voting is habit-forming.”
“The younger you start, the more likely you are to continue doing it throughout your life,” he says. “And we have evidence that when young people get involved in this process earlier, especially while they’re still in school … It increases participation. It increases turnout.”
That’s also backed up by studies out of Denmark and Austria. And in the U.S., six of the seven states with the highest youth voter turnout in the 2024 election allow voter pre-registration at age 16, according to CIRCLE’s analysis.
“There is a little bit of data out there that shows that when young people, 16- or 17-year-olds are given the chance to do this, that they step up and they participate at least at the same or even higher levels than older adults in the community,” Medina says.
Some U.S. states allow teenagers to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 in time for the general.
Jae C. Hong/AP
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Jae C. Hong/AP
What’s the state of play in the U.S.?
The U.S. doesn’t seem poised to follow in the U.K.’s footsteps anytime soon.
“If you look at the national political landscape, it’s harder to see a change of this magnitude succeeding,” Medina says.
Public opinion polling — while scarce — shows considerable opposition to lowering the voting age. A 2019 Hill-HarrisX survey finding that 75% of registered voters opposed enfranchising 17-year-olds (and even more opposed 16-year-olds being able to vote).
Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly introduced legislation that would lower the U.S. voting age from 18 to 16 in recent years, without success.
And expanding ballot access may be even harder under the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, which have come under fire for passing laws that voting rights’ groups say will do the opposite.
But change is happening on the local level, with cities in California to New Jersey among the latest to embrace lower age limits.
That’s a win for advocates, who say young voters should be able to weigh in on the issues that are closest to home, from school funding to community safety. The local focus is more than just a political feasibility, Medina says.
“It’s a way to give young people a voice in our democracy and to acknowledge the fact that they are already impacted by policies,” he says.
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