At this summer camp, kids build soccer-playing, relay-racing robots
She and her classmates were preparing for the Robot Olympics competition at Brookland Middle School's summer day camp. The middle-schoolers had spent the last three weeks coding, building and perfecting their machines to compete in games like robot soccer, a relay race and a cube sorter.
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New York Times
3 minutes ago
- New York Times
Favorite highlights from the Freaks List, plus the coaches' poll debuts
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Time to pick a favorite college football player. College football, despite some recent upheaval, is a sport of rites and traditions. Rivalries, bowl games and sentient Pop-Tarts weave a beautiful, funny and stupid tapestry. We love it. In that tapestry each year is Bruce Feldman's annual Freaks List, which comes at a perfect time. The entire draft cycle has petered out for a bit. Excitement for the upcoming season is boiling. No better junction to talk about some of the sport's most eye-popping players. Advertisement Bruce picked 101 Freaks — which, to be clear, is a very complimentary term in this space — and we cannot fit all of them here, of course. I'm picking a few that jumped out with some notes appended: 1. Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith It's legitimately funny how entrenched Smith is as the best player in the sport right now. He was an NFL player the moment he stepped onto a college field last year and helped the Buckeyes win a national title. His measurables are absurd: 11-foot broad jump, 38-inch vertical jump and 23.5 mph speed, all at 6-foot-3 1/2. He also gave up Wendy's for the season, which is impressive. 2. Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor Proctor is a unique character in the NIL era, having transferred from Alabama to Iowa and back to Alabama without playing a down for his home-state Hawkeyes. He's also an elite prospect, and I could not get over his stats in the weight room: 'This summer, he squatted 815 pounds, benched 535 and power cleaned 405.' He's also 6-foot-7 and 366 pounds. None of this is normal. 26. Toledo TE C.C. Ezirim My favorite genre on this list is the small-school athletes that I might not have known before the season if not for Bruce's reporting. Ezirim is a specimen, 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds, and can hit 22 mph on the radar gun. If he has a big season, expect every NFL scout to drool uncontrollably. It's a great day. See all 101 Freaks here. So many great anecdotes in there, too. Spurs lock up Fox De'Aaron Fox agreed to a four-year, $229 million extension with San Antonio yesterday, cementing the star point guard as a long-term partner to wunderkind Victor Wembanyama. It also creates a bona fide two-timeline system for the Spurs, who picked point guard Dylan Harper in this summer's draft. Fox allows them to compete now; Harper, Wembanyama and Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle are all under 21. Read our full story for more analysis. Advertisement Texas rules the coaches' poll The Texas Longhorns are No. 1 in the first football coaches' Top 25 poll of the year, finishing just ahead of defending national champion Ohio State. Scott Dochterman says No. 20 Kansas State is underrated, while the aforementioned second-ranked Buckeyes might be overrated. Can't wait to argue about all this until Labor Day. That Week 1 matchup between No. 6 Clemson and No. 9 LSU is looking delicious for the general public and terrifying for me. See the full rankings here. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 LL(S)WS: All Day 10 a.m. ET on ESPN networks Consider this more of a placeholder to let you know the kids are playing this week. The baseball boys start today's action at 10 a.m. with regional play — much of the day airs on ESPN — while the Little League Softball World Series starts and ends the day on ESPN 2 with ESPN+ programming in between. Here's the full schedule. 📺 MLB: Reds at Cubs 8:05 p.m. ET on TBS The NL Central race is tight as we approach the final stretches of the season. Every game is nervy. Chicago is just three games back of the MLB-best Brewers. 📺 WNBA: Wings at Liberty 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV Paige Bueckers against the league's second-best team and defending champions? Yes, please. We'll see how Dallas looks after trading DiJonai Carrington to the Lynx on Sunday, too. Get tickets to games like these here. Jim Bowden doled out MLB trade deadline superlatives across the league. Come for the blockbusters, stay for the niche awards. The Twins' trade deadline fire sale still doesn't feel real, and Dan Hayes' report on Griffin Jax actually requesting a trade minutes before the buzzer — and getting it! — was wild. What sports merch could Giannis Antetokounmpo actually want or need? Victor Wembanyama cards, it turns out. Advertisement We have more star NFL trade proposals today, this one for Commanders wideout Terry McLaurin. I loved this story from Tim Spiers on the soccer players and managers destined to play for certain clubs because of their names. Shout out to David Moller Wolfe signing to play for Wolves. Also from across the globe, the story of Son Heung-min's final game for Tottenham — where he became maybe the best Asian soccer player ever — was touching. A beautiful ending. Naomi Osaka's trial run with her new coach is working. Really, really well. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The back-and-forth between Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek at the U.S. track championships. Spicy. Most-read on the website yesterday: The Freaks List, of course
Medscape
3 minutes ago
- Medscape
Neoadjuvant vs Adjuvant Immunotherapy in Colon Cancer
The results of the phase III ATOMIC trial fired another volley in the ongoing debate over adjuvant vs neoadjuvant immunotherapy for patients with locally advanced colon cancer. But experts are divided about which treatment plan is the best. Adjuvant immunotherapy plus chemotherapy has yet to square off against neoadjuvant immunotherapy in a head-to-head trial. Even if that trial doesn't happen, post hoc analyses of ATOMIC and the neoadjuvant NICHE-2 studies may clarify whether a one-size-fits-all approach is appropriate and help determine which patients benefit more from one approach over the other, according to Christopher Lieu, MD, an investigator in the ATOMIC study. The ATOMIC study showed that adding adjuvant immunotherapy to standard-of-care chemotherapy following resection reduced the risk for disease recurrence or death by 50% compared with chemotherapy alone in the 355 patients with stage III colon cancer with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), who received adjuvant atezolizumab along with fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) chemotherapy, providing those in the pro-adjuvant camp with important data. In addition, 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 86.4% with the combination compared with 76.6% with chemotherapy alone. The results of this trial were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2025. 'These data established this combination as a new standard treatment for patients with stage III colon cancer and deficient mismatch repair,' said study author Frank A. Sinicrope, MD, during a press conference at the meeting. 'We regard this as a highly impactful study that will change clinical practice, and it actually represents the first immunotherapy adjuvant study in colon cancer.' In NICHE-2, patients were given neoadjuvant ipilimumab or nivolumab followed by surgical resection. At 3 years, 100% of all 111 patients treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab prior to surgery were recurrence-free, according to a presentation at last year's annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). The DFS beat the prespecified success threshold of 93%. Adding Immunotherapy The standard treatment for stage III colon cancer, regardless of dMMR status, is surgical resection followed by FOLFOX chemotherapy. However, about 15% of patients with stage III colon cancer have dMMR and display resistance to chemotherapy, providing a rationale for adding immunotherapies to standard treatment. 'These tumors are unable to repair their DNA and therefore accumulate mutations that trigger an immune response that is ineffective due to immune checkpoint proteins. Therefore, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors is very attractive in this setting,' Sinicrope said during the press briefing. Sinicrope is professor of medicine and oncology, and coleader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Adjuvant Immunotherapy The ATOMIC trial is significant because it demonstrates improved DFS with the addition of immunotherapy to standard chemotherapy treatment, improving outcomes for patients with this type of locally advanced cancer over standard care. There are several rationales for adding immunotherapy following surgical resection. For example, staging relies on tumor appearance on CT scan, said Lieu, who is the codirector of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, Colorado. There are patients with dMMR or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) colon cancer that appear to have stage I or II disease on their CT scan. 'In those patients, starting with immunotherapy first may not be the best idea because after a stage I or II colon cancer is resected, they don't require any further therapy because of the low risk of recurrence,' he said. 'If you think it is an early-stage cancer based of radiographic findings, you could cut out the cancer and then only offer chemotherapy and immunotherapy if it is unexpectedly stage III. I think that there's certainly rationale for that,' he continued. Other arguments for adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors, like atezolizumab, with chemotherapy include synergy between cytotoxic and immune mechanisms and systemic insurance against micrometastatic spread. It also avoids the potential for rare immune complications from upfront immunotherapy that could delay surgery. 'I don't think that [giving all patients neoadjuvant treatment] is the answer. If you think that they have stage I or stage II colon cancer at the beginning, then you might end up hurting them with upfront immunotherapy,' said Lieu. Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy The standard treatment for stage III colon cancer, regardless of dMMR status, is surgical resection followed by chemotherapy, FOLFOX and capecitabine and oxaliplatin (CAPOX) are two of the most common regimens. However, chemotherapy can be hard on patients, making neoadjuvant immunotherapy that can reduce or eliminate the need for post-surgical chemotherapy very attractive. The data from the NICHE-2 trial support the efficacy of neoadjuvant immunotherapy. 'The data strongly suggest that neoadjuvant immunotherapy is better than adjuvant immunotherapy and that chemotherapy for dMMR colorectal cancer has limited activity,' said Michael J. Overman, MD, Associate Vice President of Research for the MD Anderson Cancer Network in Houston, in an interview. 'Thus, I am a believer that neoadjuvant is the preferred approach for dMMR localized cancers.' Lieu said neoadjuvant immunotherapy might be more appropriate for more aggressive disease. 'What we discuss in our multidisciplinary clinic is that if these patients are diagnosed prior to surgery and particularly if they have aggressive features…those are some of the patients that I really would consider for neoadjuvant therapy,' he said. 'While it's high-risk disease, there could be some benefit to down-staging the patient, so that there isn't a positive margin. If there's pathologic complete response…and you don't have to give adjuvant chemotherapy, most people would consider that to be a win.' Overman noted that 'a big open area relates to whether the goal of neoadjuvant therapy should be operation or no operation. Likely both approaches can be done and that would be up to patient and physician.' However, 'with a nonoperative approach, we still have unknowns regarding disease assessment and surveillance for neoadjuvant therapy.' Patient-Specific Care In the absence of data from a head-to-head trial of the two approaches, a patient-specific approach may be the appropriate strategy, Lieu suggested. 'If I had a take home message, it's just that it's clear that these patients really require multidisciplinary discussion before an operation,' he said. Molecular testing has an important role to play as well, said Lieu. 'It speaks to the importance of doing biomarker testing for MMR, MSI, or both. Alarm bells should be ringing as soon as [either or both come] back positive; it should make everyone think for a second and make sure we have the right plan for the right patients.' Sinicrope reported several relationships, including with Eli Lilly, Guardant Health, Roche Holdings AG, Ventana Medical Systems, and Woven Health Collective. Lieu reported relationships with Amgen and Genentech.
New York Times
5 minutes ago
- New York Times
How a Soggy Spring and Hot Summer Nights Made 2025 an ‘Exceptional' Year for Fireflies
'Every summer without fail,' said Adam Young, recalling summer nights chasing fireflies as a child in Iowa, 'I remember running barefoot in the grass at dusk, listening to the crickets and cicadas, chasing fireflies until it got too dark to see,' Mr. Young, who would later rise to fame as the musician behind the band Owl City and its song 'Fireflies,' still recalls those summers fondly. 'You learned to keep your mouth shut,' he said. 'There were thousands of them — you'd ride your bike around and they'd hit you in the face.' This summer, that childhood magic seems to have made a comeback. From city parks to suburban backyards, fireflies have been lighting up the evening sky across the northeastern United States in greater numbers than in recent years — making it feel as if the opening lines of Mr. Young's debut hit were the literal truth: 'You would not believe your eyes, if 10 million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep.' And the reason? The weather. Fireflies thrive in warm, humid conditions. Fireflies, or Lampyridae, are not flies or worms, but beetles, and ancient ones at that. 'They have been around for millions of years before humans evolved,' said Jessica Ware, a curator and the division chair of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There are more than 2,200 known species worldwide, with 165 documented in the United States and Canada, according to the Xerces Society, which works to protect invertebrates and their habitats. New species are still being discovered. Fireflies are coldblooded insects, meaning their body temperatures are regulated by their environment. They thrive in warm, humid conditions — just the sort of setting Mr. Young recalls from his Iowa childhood. 'They produce an enzyme, luciferase, that interacts with a substance called luciferin, with oxygen, magnesium and a little energy to produce light,' said Sarah Lower, an assistant professor of biology at Bucknell University. The reaction that produces that magical-seeming light is more efficient in warmer air, which explains fireflies' increased activity during hot, muggy summers. Adult fireflies live only briefly. Their lives underground, however, span much longer. 'Fireflies spend up to two years in the larval stage before they emerge as adults,' said Professor Lower. But as adults, most only live about two weeks, she said. A couple of particularly soggy spring seasons in recent years might have given firefly larvae a boost, experts said. New York City received 16.64 inches of rainfall in spring 2024 and 15.35 inches in spring 2025 — both well above the seasonal average of 12.34 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meanwhile, Philadelphia got 13.07 inches in 2024 and 14.41 inches in 2025, also higher than its spring average, which is 10.77 inches. Zack Taylor, the branch chief at NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, noted that unusually warm summer nights this year may be another contributing factor. He explained that clouds, high humidity and light winds can trap heat near the earth's surface, keeping nighttime temperatures elevated. Because fireflies thrive on warm and humid conditions, these above-average overnight temperatures also could be fueling the noticeable increase. Overnight lows in Central Park are among the warmest on record, he said, and the same is true in Philadelphia. In fact, he added, since June 1, several locations east of the Mississippi River are experiencing their warmest average lows on record: Raleigh, Charlotte, and Wilmington in North Carolina; Huntington, and Kennedy Airport in New York. Gabriel Willow, a naturalist who leads nocturnal ecology tours in Central Park and Prospect Park, has also noticed the uptick. 'It's an exceptional year for fireflies,' he said. 'Last spring and summer, and this year as well, were both wetter than average, so that's helped the fireflies survive and thrive.' This is a bright year, but many species are at risk. Candace Fallon, a biologist at the Xerces Society, said it was uplifting to hear so many reports of larger firefly populations, but it was difficult to draw any conclusions from a single season of data. 'Because firefly populations can bounce up and down each year, depending on local conditions,' she said, 'we really need long-term data sets to understand how fireflies are doing over the long term.' The Xerces Society maintains a community science program called Firefly Atlas, which collects data on firefly distribution to produce rough estimates of abundance, habitat associations, phenology and threats. But Ms. Fallon said monitoring at established sites was still in its infancy in the United States. 'We lack base line data from prior decades to authoritatively speak to how populations are faring compared to the past,' she said. 'That said, anecdotal reports, documented threats to fireflies, local extirpations, and research on population trends of other insect groups all suggest that fireflies are declining.' At least 18 of the estimated 170 North American species are considered at risk of extinction, according an assessment the Firefly Atlas completed with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Firefly Specialist Group. Habitat loss, pesticide use, light pollution and climate change are the primary drivers. 'They need dark night skies as they flash a species-specific pattern of light to communicate and find a mate,' Dr. Ware said. 'Light pollution makes it hard for the species to find their mates which means fewer mating successes and smaller population the next year.' Mr. Willow said that the most abundant species in New York — Photinus pyralis, or the 'big dipper firefly' — is more resilient to light pollution than others. 'It generally is out for a couple of hours around sunset at dusk looking for a mate,' he said. 'Since it comes out and displays when it's lighter out relative to some other fireflies that prefer darkness, it's less sensitive to light pollution.' Counterintuitively, that means cities might offer safer conditions for fireflies than rural or suburban areas, as long as green spaces exist. 'Cities don't tend to have widespread insecticide use aside from spraying for mosquitoes,' Mr. Willow said. 'That can make them unexpectedly hospitable environments for insects like fireflies — especially where there's parkland, unmowed grasses, native wildflowers and trees.' Here's how to keep fireflies around for the future. So what can be done to keep the magic glowing for future summers? 'Lights out for lightning bugs,' said Professor Lower. 'Turn your outside lights off during the summer.' She also recommends leaving your leaves to decompose in the soil in the fall and not mowing at least part of your yard — 'devote it to fireflies,' she said. Moist, organic soil is critical. Creating a dark part of your garden by planting taller trees and shrubs can also help fireflies thrive, she added. For those tempted to relive childhood summer nights by catching fireflies in jars, there's a responsible way to do it. 'We recommend catch and release,' Professor Lower said. Most North American species only have a few nights of adulthood, 'so capturing them in a jar can prevent them from finding a mate,' she said. If you do capture them in a jar, she recommends skipping the holes. 'Fireflies dry out rapidly, and holes make that worse,' she said. 'Put them in an enclosed jar with a piece of damp paper towel or a piece of apple.' If you're going out to spot fireflies, Mr. Willow recommends seeking out grassy areas with scattered trees. 'Strawberry Fields in Central Park, the Long Meadow in Prospect Park, really any grassy areas in city parks and even patches of grass in backyards or abandoned lots,' he said. He added the best time is around sunset and two to three hours afterward. 'The fireflies start flashing earlier in shady areas under trees where it's darker, and then later in open areas when the light levels drop.'
