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The Food and Drug Administration authorized Juul to continue selling its signature e-cigarettes on the US market yesterday, as well as tobacco- and menthol-flavored refill cartridges. The decision ends three years of limbo after the federal regulator banned the company's products in 2022, then paused the ban pending further scientific review. The company’s fruit-flavored products remain banned.
The FDA determined the benefits to adult smokers seeking to quit traditional cigarettes outweigh the public health risks, including to youth. Since Juul entered the vaping market in 2015, its fruit-flavored nicotine pods and slim vaporizers fueled a spike in underage vaping. E-cigarette use increased from 220,000 high schoolers in 2011 to 3.1 million by 2018. The company agreed in 2022 to pay nearly $440M to settle a lawsuit alleging it intentionally marketed to youth.
While Juul held roughly 70% of the US e-cigarette market share in 2018, the company today holds roughly 18%, falling behind competitors Vuse and Geek Bar. Learn about Juul’s rise and struggles here. |
The UK’s Labour-led government announced yesterday it plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next general election—part of a set of electoral reforms requiring parliamentary approval. There are an estimated 1.6 million 16- and 17-year-olds in the UK, representing 3% of the population age 16 and above.
The announcement comes as election turnout last year reached a 23-year low, at 59.7%. The left-leaning Labour Party rejects allegations it seeks to lower the voting age for its own benefit. There are a handful of countries that have already lowered the voting age to 16, including Austria, Brazil, and Ecuador. Research in those countries suggests the change could increase voter engagement without impacting election outcomes. In Scotland and Wales, 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to participate in local elections.
Labour also plans to expand acceptable voter identification card options to include bank cards and crack down on foreign interference in UK elections, among other changes. See the announcement here. |
Eight babies have been born in a UK trial using an in vitro fertilization technique that combines DNA from three people, designed to reduce inherited mitochondrial diseases. The babies, now between 6 months and just over 2 years old, were born to women treated at a fertility center in northeast England. The approach uses the father’s sperm, the mother’s egg, and a donor egg with healthy mitochondria—about 0.1% of the child’s DNA comes from the donor.
Mitochondrial disorders, affecting about 1 in 5,000 births, are transmitted via the mother and can cause vision loss, diabetes, and heart issues. Six of the eight babies showed a 95% to 100% drop in mutated mitochondrial DNA, while two showed reductions between 77% and 88%. All eight remain healthy; one experienced and recovered from an irregular heartbeat.
The UK became the first country to legalize the three-person IVF procedure in 2015. The US has not approved the technique, although US fertility specialists performed the procedure in Mexico in 2016. Learn more about IVF via 1440 Topics here. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> CBS will cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," retiring the franchise in May 2026, citing financial reasons; the program is the most-watched late night franchise on US broadcast television (More) |
> Connie Francis, singer of "Stupid Cupid" and viral TikTok song "Pretty Little Baby," dies at age 87; Francis became the first woman in history to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1960 (More) | Bryan Braman, former Super Bowl-winning linebacker, dies of cancer at age 38 (More) |
> The 2025 WNBA All-Star festivities kick off tonight with the three-point contest and skills challenge (8 pm ET, ESPN), followed by tomorrow's All-Star Game (8:30 pm ET, ABC); star Caitlin Clark will miss weekend with injury (More) |
Title IX: Tomorrow's 1440 Society & Culture newsletter explores the 1972 legislation that dramatically expanded women's college sports. Sign up here to receive! |
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> OpenAI debuts ChatGPT Agent that can control multiple applications on a user's computer to carry out complex tasks such as making purchases, planning trips, creating slide decks, and more (More) |
> Surgeons perform world's first pediatric heart transplant using a technique that restarts the heart outside the donor's body; procedure saved the life of a 3-month-old patient, could increase organ donor pool by 20% (More) |
> Researchers discover unique electrical patterns that occur as the brain transitions from sleeping to being awake; findings may help lead to new treatments for sleep disorders (More) | Breaking down the different stages of sleep (1440 Topics) |
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> US House passes bill regulating dollar-pegged stablecoins, which now heads to President Donald Trump for signing; two House-passed bills governing regulatory oversight of digital assets and barring Federal Reserve from creating its own digital currency head to the Senate (More) | See previous write-up (More) |
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.5%, Nasdaq +0.7%); S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise to records (More) | Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Platforms investors settle shareholder claims seeking $8B in damages over alleged Facebook privacy violations (More) |
> Newsletter publisher Substack raises $100M at $1.1B valuation, achieving unicorn status (More) | AI coding startup Lovable also reaches unicorn status after raising $200M at a valuation of $1.8B (More) | What are unicorn startups? (More) |
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In partnership with Finance Advisors |
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You've worked hard to build a substantial portfolio. But, if it's managed with the same cookie-cutter strategy everyone gets, it's time to reevaluate.
Skilled advisors use strategies like tax-smart rebalancing and direct indexing to optimize their clients' tax efficiency, which could save them tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over time. If your portfolio isn't set up for tax optimization, you may not be getting the level of service you need from your advisor.
Review these 5 tips to know if you should look for someone who can. |
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> President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with benign condition known as chronic venous insufficiency, White House press secretary reveals; the condition occurs when blood pools in the vein, restricting flow to the heart (More) | Department of Homeland Security reaches deal with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to get access to data on 79 million Medicaid enrollees (More) |
> House of Representatives slated to vote today on Senate bill to reduce $9B in federal spending on foreign aid and public broadcasting (More) | Republicans advance judicial nomination for former Trump lawyer, Democrats walk out (More) |
> Israeli strike on Gaza church kills at least three people, wounds 10 others, including the priest; Israel says the strike was a mistake (More) |
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> Joyride Through Disneyland
Virginia Quarterly Review | Leslie Jamison. A mother confronts feelings of bliss, guilt, and nostalgia during a 36-hour trip to Disneyland with her daughter. (Read)
> Crash Crops, Hidden Costs
Chicago Tribune | Karina Atkins. A four-part series exploring how Illinois farmers confront extreme weather, volatile rainfall, and surging pests as climate change makes the state’s fertile corn and soybean fields more valuable.
(Part 1) | (Part 2) | (Part 3) | (Part 4) |
> What It Takes to Put On a Music Festival
Wendover Productions | Staff. Every April, hundreds of cows leave their pasture in Somerset, England, to make way for the Glastonbury Festival. Here's a look at the logistics behind the five-day event. (Watch)
> Mel Robbins' Secret to Virality
Social Currency with Sammi Cohen | Sammi Cohen. Learn how the attorney turned personal growth expert harnessed sticky soundbites like the “Five Second Rule” and “Let Them Theory” to build a media empire. (Listen) |
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DNA evidence points to women-led society in ancient China.
TikTok trend suggests path to retire with $4M.
See a robot artist's painting of King Charles. (w/video)
Florida residents rescue four people in a small plane crash.
... and handwritten notes save mother and son lost in California.
Top summer reading genres, by state.
"Superman" movie drives up interest in dog adoption.
See photos of vintage fast food restaurants.
Clickbait: Sloths do, in fact, toot.
Historybook: Novelist Jane Austen dies (1817); Nelson Mandela born (1918); Astronaut and politician John Glenn born (1921); Nadia Comăneci gets first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history (1976); Actress Priyanka Chopra born (1982). |
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