A new JAMA Viewpoint urges a middle-ground vaccine policy: acknowledge shared blame, move beyond absolutist tactics, and rebuild public trust through education, clinician communication, and community-based outreach.

Students from less wealthy backgrounds are more likely to attend schools where learning a foreign language to GCSE is considered optional – and not necessarily even encouraged – new research shows. The University of Cambridge study of 615 state schools in England found that poorer students are disproportionately concentrated in schools that deprioritise language learning. This significantly reduces their chances of learning a foreign language after the age of 14. The research identified a seven percentage point gap between the proportion of disadvantaged students at schools where languages were optional at GCSE, and at schools where they were considered ‘core’. It then found an enormous difference, exceeding 50 percentage points, in the average proportion of students at these schools who studied a language to GCSE. These findings suggest that disadvantaged students have been worst affected by the national decline in language study since 2004, when GCSE languages ceased to be compulsory.

INFORMS, the world’s largest association for professionals and students in operations research (O.R.), AI, analytics and data science, has named 12 distinguished leaders as 2025 INFORMS Fellows, one of the highest professional honors in operations research, analytics and AI.

Collectively, this year’s Fellows represent trailblazing contributions in academia and industry and have advanced breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience, clean energy, healthcare delivery and transportation systems, while also shaping the next generation of talent and serving as trusted advisors to organizations worldwide.

A team of researchers at the University of Miami has developed a global atmospheric modeling framework that blends powerful research capabilities with accessibility for students and scientists alike. Written entirely in Python, a high-level, general-purpose programming language, and designed to run on an interactive Jupyter Notebook, the new tool removes longstanding technical barriers, allowing anyone with a standard laptop to explore cutting-edge climate experiments.

With the rapid growth of the population age 65 years and older and the increased risk of cognitive decline associated with advanced age, there is a mounting need to identify the potential mechanisms that buffer against cognitive decline and preserve cognitive function in later life.

 

Previous studies have shown that having more years of education, participating in cognitively stimulating activities and having longevity in your family all protect brain health and help people maintain good cognitive function throughout life. However, little is known about how these factors relate with one another or if they are distinct pathways for optimizing cognitive health.

 

Now, for the first time, a new study looks at the interplay between these factors that promote cognitive resilience in older adulthood. The study found that older adults without a family history of longevity who more frequently engaged in cognitively stimulating activities such as reading, writing, playing games and visiting museums, were able to match the same level of good cognitive functioning as those with familial longevity. This was particularly true for executive function (cognitive processes that help people manage their thoughts and actions) and language tasks. When both groups had similar levels of cognitive engagement from activities like reading, researchers found that people with a family history of longer lifespans still had better memory than those without that trait.