Latest news with #NYU
New York Post
20 hours ago
- Science
- New York Post
Bee swarms in NYC plague summer 2025
Time for an Exodus? From extreme heat to swarms of insects, New York City has been hit with a barrage of Biblical plagues this summer. Get the facts behind the tornado of bees spotted in Midtown Manhattan, which one NYU student called "the actualization of [her] biggest fear." Plus, we dive into other strange swarms — mayflies in Ohio and sand fleas in Florida — in this episode of "Weird But True" hosted by Andrew Court.
Los Angeles Times
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
In new indie flick ‘Ponyboi,' River Gallo sheds light on an intersex experience
'How the f— does this baby know if she loves her father?' asked River Gallo one day at Walmart, maybe 10 years ago, when they saw an infant sucking on a pacifier emblazoned with the words 'I love my daddy.' 'That started the ball rolling about my own issues with my father and with this compulsory love that we have with our families, specifically with our parents, specifically in this instance with my father, her father, our fathers, and with masculinity in general,' says a radiant Gallo during a recent video interview. The spontaneous moment of introspection planted the seed for what became a 10-minute performance piece while studying acting at NYU — then their USC thesis-turned-short film 'Ponyboi,' released in 2017, which Gallo wrote, starred in, and co-directed with Sadé Clacken Joseph. That project ultimately evolved into 'Ponyboi' the feature, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024, became the first film produced under Fox Entertainment Studios' indie label, Tideline, and was released June 27 in theaters across the United States. A consummate multihyphenate, Gallo again wrote the screenplay, served as producer and stars as the titular character: an intersex, Latine sex worker in New Jersey who is desperate to escape their pimp (played by Dylan O'Brien) and the world of crime and violence that surrounds them. Flashbacks to Ponyboi's childhood, made difficult due to the medical procedures forced on them and the temperament of their classically macho Latino father, fill in the viewer on the protagonist's past. Meanwhile, dreamy sequences with a handsome, cowboy hat-wearing stranger named Bruce (Murray Bartlett), an idealized embodiment of a positive masculinity, construct a rich world both visually and thematically in Ponyboi's present. '[At] face value, 'Ponyboi' can seem like, 'Oh, it's just a person-on-the-run kind of movie,' but upon a closer look, it's about someone finding freedom in the acceptance of their past and the possibility that, through transcending their own beliefs about themselves, perhaps their future could be a little brighter,' Gallo explains. Gallo is the child of Salvadoran immigrants who escaped their country's civil war in 1980 and lived undocumented in the U.S. Gallo grew up in New Jersey and showed interest in acting from an early age. It was a strict teacher's unexpected encouragement, after Gallo appeared in a musical during their sophomore year of high school, that convinced them to pursue a life in art. 'My biology teacher, Mrs. Lagatol, came to see my musical, and the next day I was waiting for her to say something to me, and she didn't say anything,' Gallo recalls. 'Then she gave me back a test, and on the test was a little Post-it that said: 'If you had been the only one on stage, it would've been worth the price of admission. Bravo.'' Gallo still keeps that Post-it note framed. Though their parents were supportive, Gallo admits feeling frustration in recent years that their family has not fully understood the magnitude of what they've accomplished as a marginalized person in entertainment: an intersex individual and a first-generation Latine. 'Not to toot my own horn, but for a graduate of any film program, getting your first feature to Sundance is the biggest deal in the world,' says Gallo. 'There hasn't been a person like me to do what I'm doing. There's no precedent or pioneer in my specific identities.' This desire for a more informed validation is even stronger in relation to their father. 'I don't think my dad has seen any of my films. My mom has; she was at the premiere at Sundance, which was really beautiful, and so was my sister,' Gallo says. 'But I wouldn't be surprised if my dad never sees my movies. That's hard, but he's supportive in other ways.' Halfway through our conversation, Gallo realizes they are wearing a Bruce Springsteen T-shirt. That's no coincidence, since 'The Boss,' a fellow New Jerseyan, influenced multiple aspects of 'Ponyboi.' As they wrote the screenplay for the short version, Gallo was also reading Springsteen's autobiography, 'Born to Run,' and that seeped into their work. 'I remember taking a trip to the Jersey Shore that summer and then looking up at the Stone Pony, the venue where [Springsteen] had his first big performance, and just being like, 'Stone pony, stone pony, pony, pony, pony boy, ponyboi. That's a good name.' And then that was just what I decided to name the character' For Gallo, the emblematic American singer-songwriter represents 'the idea of being working class,' which Gallo thinks 'transcends political ideology.' As a child of immigrants, Springsteen's work speaks to Gallo profoundly. 'My dad, who is more dark-skinned than me, was an electrician, and he was a union guy who experienced all this racism in New York unions,' Gallo says. 'There's so much of what I see in Bruce Springsteen in my father and also just in how Bruce Springsteen describes his relationship with his dad, who was also a man who couldn't express his emotions.' For the feature, Gallo enlisted Esteban Arango, a Colombian-born, L.A.-based filmmaker whose debut feature, 'Blast Beat,' premiered at Sundance in 2020. But while Gallo believes Arango understood the nuances of the narrative, it admittedly pained them to relinquish the director's chair. But it was a necessary sacrifice in order to focus on the performance and move the project along. 'It was difficult because I went to school for directing,' Gallo explains. 'But I just don't think the movie would've happened on this timeline if I had wanted to direct it. It would've taken much longer, and we needed the film at this moment in time.' Arango brought his own 'abrasive' edge to the narrative. 'I felt the story needed more darkness,' the director explains via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. 'The hypermasculine world of New Jersey is constantly trying to oppress and reject Ponyboi, because they have a much softer, feminine energy they want to project.' The contrast between the tenderness of Ponyboi's interiority and the harshness of their reality is what Arango focused on. Though Arango hesitated to take on the film, given that he is not queer, his personal history as an immigrant functioned as an entry point into this tale of shifting, complex identities. Still, throughout the entire process, Arango was clear that, first and foremost, 'Ponyboi' was a story centering intersex people — and all those who don't fit into the rigid gender binary. 'Their plight should be our plight, because they are at the forefront of what it means to be free,' he says. 'When somebody attacks them or doesn't understand why they present themselves as they are, it's really an attack on all of us, and it's a reflection of our misunderstanding of ourselves.' Back in 2023, Gallo was one of three subjects in Julie Cohen's incisive documentary 'Every Body,' about the intersex experience, including the ways the medical industry performs unnecessary procedures in order to 'normalize' intersex people. Gallo confesses that for a long time they thought being intersex was something they would never feel comfortable talking about — something they even would take 'to the grave,' as they put it. 'There's no other way that I can explain the fact that now I've made so much work reflecting on my identity other than it being an act of God,' Gallo says. 'Because I just had the feeling that the world needed it now, and also that I needed it now. I'm glad that 'Ponyboi' taught me about the agency that I have over my art and myself and my life.' Anti-trans legislation, Gallo explains, includes loopholes enabling doctors to 'normalize' intersex bodies and continue the medically unnecessary, and at times nonconsensual surgeries on intersex youth. 'The intersex narrative in [trans legislation] is invisible and not spoken about enough,' they say. 'These are also anti-intersex bills.' To fully understand Gallo as a person and an artist, one should watch both 'Every Body' and 'Ponyboi.' The doc shows the bones of what made Gallo who they are without symbols, just the raw facts of how their intersex identity shaped them. 'Ponyboi,' on the other hand, exposes their interior life with the poetry that the cinematic medium allows for. However, what happens with 'Ponyboi' now isn't as important to Gallo as the fact that the movie exists as a testament of their totality as a creative force. 'Love my movie, hate my movie, I don't care, because my movie healed something deep inside of me that I was waiting a lifetime to be healed from,' Gallo states fervently. 'Intersex people are still invisible in this culture, but I can at least say that I don't feel invisible to myself anymore. And it was all worth it for that.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Heidi Klum, 52, turns heads in a busty strapless mini dress as she arrives at Jimmy Kimmel Live! before opening up about emigrating to the US
Heidi Klum was a vision as she arrived at Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Los Angeles on Thursday. The supermodel, 52, put on a busty display in a strapless black mini dress that showed off her sensational figure. The sizzling ensemble featured a corset style top which flowed into a skirt with a pink satin fold. She added inches to her slender frame with a pair of black heels and sheer black tights. Shielding her eyes with a pair of stylish sunglasses, the beauty appeared in good spirits as she arrived for her appearance on the talk show. During the show, Heidi opened up about her living in the US, having been born and brought up in Germany. The supermodel, 52, put on a busty display in the number which showed off her sensational figure She explained to host Diego Luna: 'I think being a foreigner, helped me a lot coming to this country. I think people found me more interesting because I had an accent. 'I think that helped me in a way coming form Germany. It made more kind of more exotic or something like that.' Heidi continued: 'I came in 1994 and I went first to Miami and I did a lot of, you know, test photo shoots there and then I went to New York City and just fell in love with New York City. 'I lived there for many years and now I live here in Los Angeles for many years. I have four kids. 'One in New York, and three here in Los Angeles and now they're all, you know, one is at NYU New York, another one is now going to Parsons in New York and I have another one here. 'So, I mean they are all over the place now. Going to college, which is crazy, I only have one more baby at home, 15 years old. They're all grown ups. 21, 20, 19, and 15.' After her appearance on the show, Heidi stunned as she left the shoot location in another head turning outfit. The star looked incredible in a beige sleeveless blazer and matching trousers. She explained to host Diego Luna: 'I think being a foreigner, helped me a lot coming to this country. I think people found me more interesting because I had an accent' After her appearance on the show, Heidi stunned as she left the shoot location in another head turning outfit Beaming as she left the venue, she toted her belongings in a stylish brown leather bag. Her appearance come after Heidi celebrated her son Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel's graduation from Campbell Hall on June 18. She gushed on Instagram: 'Cheering you on today and every day, congratulations Johan! My heart is full of joy and pride.' The 18-year-old donned a classic cap and gown for the ceremony, held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA, amid the ICE raid protests. Notable alumni of the Studio City private school include filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, actress Dakota Fanning, her younger sister Elle Fanning, Modern Family alum Ariel Winter, and the Olsen twins. Joining Heidi at the graduation festivities on Wednesday was her 19-year-old son Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, who beamed beside his baby brother. Not pictured was Johan's famous father - four-time Grammy winner Seal - who is next scheduled to headline the Moroccan music festival Jazzablanca 2025 in Casablanca on July 3. Heidi and the 62-year-old R&B belter are also proud parents of 15-year-old daughter Lou and he adopted her 21-year-old daughter Leni (with Flavio Briatore) in 2009 during their seven-year marriage, which ended in 2012. The Emmy-winning host makes her triumphant return to the 10-episode 21st season of design competition Project Runway premiering July 31 on Freeform, Disney+, and Hulu. 'It's felt like coming home, really like coming home,' Heidi gushed to People in May. 'I can do it with my eyes closed, even though I'm judging clothes, so I have to have my eyes open, but I can do it with my eyes closed. 'I just love fashion so much, and I love how interested they are and how they're champing at the bit to get a spot in the fashion industry. So, it's so fun to give them a platform to show what they can do.' OG Project Runway judge Nina García and celebrity stylist Law Roach will join Klum as judges while Project Runway season 4 champ Christian Siriano returns as a mentor to the designers. Germany's Next Topmodel producer-host previously hosted Project Runway for 16 seasons spanning 2004-2018 before exiting to co-host rival competition Making the Cut on Amazon Prime Video alongside Tim Gunn for three seasons spanning 2020-2022.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
And Just Like That star admits to NEVER watching an episode of Sex and the City before audition
And Just Like That star Cathy Ang never watched an episode of Sex and the City before she was cast as Kristin Davis ' onscreen daughter Lily York Goldenblatt in 2021. Outraged, the 60-year-old Emmy nominee asked the 29-year-old NYU grad on her podcast Are You a Charlotte on Tuesday if she told her or the other executive producers about that at the time. 'Am I gonna make you cry already?' Cathy asked Kristin. 'I kind of grew up in a more conservative environment where, like, my parents would not have been comfortable with me watching the show, of course. I really wish my mom had watched this show. You know, there's so many things that I feel like, actually, I think my mom is a Charlotte, you know, and there's many ways where I feel like she could have found, like, more freedom in her life.' Ang continued: 'Anyway, it doesn't matter, but I didn't get to watch the show. And then watching the show, actually, after already being cast, I was like, "Holy guacamole!" But just like so kind of taken aback by the world that I was about to enter. And that probably would have freaked me out [at a younger age].' The Chinese-Filipino-American actress-singer previously told Cosmopolitan in 2021 that she actually first watched the movies Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), and once she got the role she 'binged the show in like a week.' 'I think if I had watched it as a teen, I wouldn't have understood as many of the problems they ran into, because I was just a little bit unaware,' Cathy admitted. 'So I appreciated that I waited because it would have felt more foreign to me before, but now I could relate to these characters.' Davis told Ang that her self-taped audition during the COVID-19 pandemic was 'super brilliant' because of her prowess on the piano, which 'impressed' showrunner Michael Patrick King. The Iowa-born, Cali-raised brunette's character Lily should technically be 21 years old considering Charlotte and Harry (Evan Handler) adopted her as a baby in 2004 following the emotional Sex and the City series finale. The art dealer and divorce attorney's biological, non-binary child Rose aka 'Rock' (played by 15-year-old Alexa Swinton) should technically be 17 years older considering she was born in 2008 during the first SATC film. There are fan theories that the hot-tempered teen is secretly the franchise's villain considering she stole Carrie Bradshaw's (Sarah Jessica Parker) cell phone before she was stood up at the altar by Mr. Big (Chris Noth), who was desperately trying to call her. And Lily's piano recital in the And Just Like That series premiere kept Carrie from Big on the night he suffered a fatal heart attack on a Peloton bike at their lavish Manhattan apartment. 'The show has opened up like so many opportunities for me,' Cathy gushed. 'It was also strange that like I would ever be recognized. I went to a Bachelorette party in Texas and I gotta say I got recognized like three times down one street and it was really exciting to be a part of something that brings so many people joy.' The Chinese-Filipino-American actress-singer previously told Cosmopolitan in 2021 that she actually first watched the movies Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), and once she got the role she 'binged the show in like a week' The art dealer and divorce attorney's biological, non-binary child Rose aka 'Rock' (played by 15-year-old Alexa Swinton) should technically be 17 years older considering she was born in 2008 during the first SATC film There are fan theories that the hot-tempered teen is secretly the franchise's villain considering she stole Carrie Bradshaw's (Sarah Jessica Parker) cell phone before she was stood up at the altar by Mr. Big (Chris Noth), who was desperately trying to call her And Lily's piano recital in the And Just Like That series premiere kept Carrie from Big on the night he suffered a fatal heart attack on a Peloton bike at their lavish Manhattan apartment Cathy gushed: 'It was also strange that like I would ever be recognized. I went to a Bachelorette party in Texas and I gotta say I got recognized like three times down one street and it was really exciting to be a part of something that brings so many people joy' That's arguable considering most SATC fans hate watch the dismally-reviewed continuation due to their devotion to Darren Star's small-screen adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology, which aired for six seasons on HBO spanning 1998-2004 Catch more of Ang as Lily in the 12-episode third season of And Just Like That, which airs Thursdays on Max That's arguable considering most SATC fans hate watch the dismally-reviewed continuation due to their devotion to Darren Star's small-screen adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology, which aired for six seasons on HBO spanning 1998-2004. The Emmy-winning series borrowed heavily from its predecessor about four female friends living in a big city - NBC sitcom The Golden Girls (1985-1992) - even copying the character archetypes of a funny one, a smart one, a naïve one, and a slut.
Medscape
2 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
AI-Derived Risk Score May Improve Risk Stratification of Squamous Cell Carcinomas
An artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled prognostication system created through retrieval augmented generation (RAG) appears to offer significantly better predictive capability, particularly regarding poor outcomes, for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) compared with the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual, Eighth Edition (AJCC8) systems, according to a recently published study. The authors say their model illustrates how targeted application of general-purpose large language models (LLMs) can help develop and refine future prognostication systems. Limited Guidance Neil K. Jairath, MD 'Currently,' Neil K. Jairath, MD, told Medscape Dermatology , 'up to 30% of bad outcomes in cSCC — recurrence, metastasis, and death — occur in what we classify as 'low-stage' tumors using existing systems, leaving practitioners with limited guidance for risk stratification.' Jairath is chief resident in dermatology at New York University, New York City, and is co-first author on the paper, which was published online on June 11 in JAMA Dermatology . To address the clinical-practice gap, he and his coauthors comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, and selected 10 manuscripts for inclusion in an RAG knowledge base that informed creation of the model. Rather than relying solely on general training data, Jairath said, using RAG grounded the AI model in authoritative, domain-specific knowledge. 'This approach allowed us to leverage the collective insights from high-impact cSCC literature that represents decades of clinical research. Unlike purely AI-generated calculators that might produce unreliable outputs, RAG ensures our system is built on validated medical evidence,' he explained. Detailed prompting of a customized generative pretrained transformer (GTP-4, OpenAI) produced the AI-Derived Risk Score (AIRIS) prognostication system, which assigns 0-3 points to factors such as tumor diameter, depth, and the presence of immunosuppression. Total scores > 1 signify high-risk tumors. ** When validated on 2379 primary tumors, AIRIS demonstrated superior performance compared with the BWH and AJCC8systems across all key metrics. Most importantly, said Jairath, AIRIS showed dramatically improved sensitivity for identifying poor outcomes: 49% for local recurrence, 74% for nodal metastasis, and 83% for distant metastasis. The corresponding figures for BWH staging, the more reliable of the comparators, were 26%, 37%, and 38%. 'AIRIS's improved sensitivity means we can better identify high-risk patients who need enhanced surveillance or adjuvant therapy, while avoiding overtreatment of truly low-risk cases,' said Jairath. Although AIRIS prognostication showed the highest sensitivity for each outcome, it had the lowest specificity (85%-87%). 'We argue that this trade-off is clinically beneficial,' Jairath and colleagues wrote, 'as the magnitude increases in sensitivity across outcomes (nearly 20%-35%) appear to outweigh the loss of specificity (approximately 7% across outcomes).' In an accompanying editorial, authors led by Emily S. Ruiz, MD, MPH, academic director of the Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery Center at BWH in Boston, applauded AIRIS's clinically intuitive point-based system. Unlike current staging systems, these authors added, AIRIS assigns different point values to different risk factors. 'However,' they wrote, 'its formulation of several risk factors presents challenges for clinical applicability.' Although previous staging systems record invasive depth by tissue level, for example, the model uses millimeters. 'Translational research experience suggests that many molecular answers lie at the tumor's leading edge,' Jairath said. He referred to a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology in 2014 that showed differential matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) profiles there, suggesting a possible contribution of interleukin-24 to SCC invasion through enhanced focal expression of MMP7. 'As we direct more translational efforts toward this interface,' he said, 'millimeter-level measurements may provide the granularity needed for molecular correlations and personalized therapy decisions.' Welcome Dialogue Veronica Rotemberg, MD, PhD The foregoing comments regarding millimeter-level measurements represent 'the kind of discussion that we must have when looking at different ways to incorporate AI into clinical practice,' said Veronica Rotemberg, MD, PhD, a dermatologist and director of dermatology informatics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. She was not an author of the study or editorial but was the handling editor at JAMA Dermatology who focuses on AI papers. Presently, she said in an interview, if one queries an LLM about recurrence risk for a specific tumor, it is impossible to know what calculations produce the prediction. Instead, Rotemberg said, Jairath and colleagues used an LLM to create a transparent prognostication system. 'If you're an individual patient using this system, you're not using AI directly at all.' Patients and physicians can simply use the authors' table in the paper to tally points. 'You don't know exactly what went into generating this table,' Rotemberg said, 'although you mostly know because you know the papers that were used to inform it.' Nevertheless, she said it's too early to predict how AIRIS will impact clinical practice. Authors' validating the model on data not used to create or train it surpasses the validation efforts associated with many reported AI-enabled models, Rotemberg said. 'But the gold standard for any prediction model is prospective studies in its intended-use setting,' she added. 'We need to know, when faced with this scoring system, what decisions do people make, and how does that affect health?' For now, said Rotemberg, the study represents an exciting and necessary step in that direction. Going forward, Jairath said, he and his colleagues hope to expand AIRIS validation studies and would welcome the opportunity to test AIRIS on larger data sets. AIRIS study authors reported no funding sources but acknowledged the use of GPT-4 (OpenAI) as a base model. Jairath is CEO and cofounder of DermFlow and of Bedside Bike. He is also chief medical officer of AI Regent and an advisor to Marit Health. Rotemberg is an associate editor for AI of JAMA Dermatology but did not author the AIRIS study or editorial. Her comments do not represent the views of MSKCC. Ruiz is a consultant for Regeneron, Checkpoint Therapeutics, Feldan Therapeutics, and Merck. Additionally, she is an investigator for Regeneron, Castle Biosciences, and Merck. Editorial coauthor William Lotter, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston reported receiving personal fees from SpringTide Ventures and Servier, nonfinancial support from Dekang Medical, and grants from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. John Jesitus is a Denver-based freelance medical writer and editor.
