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  • Overviewing the Clinical use of the CARM Score in Alzheimer Disease Detection: James Galvin, MD

    Overviewing the Clinical use of the CARM Score in Alzheimer Disease Detection: James Galvin, MD

    WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

    “This tool doesn’t replace clinical evaluation or confirmatory biomarkers, but it adds meaningful value by helping clinicians better decide what the next step should be for their patients.”

    Developed from data in the Bio-Hermes study, the CogniVue Amyloid Risk Measure (CARM) combines results from three cognitive subtests: adaptive motor control, visual salience, and shape discrimination to estimate the likelihood of amyloid pathology in patients with cog

    nitive impairment. Using machine learning and PET-verified amyloid status, CARM was scaled from 0 to 100 and defined with 4 risk thresholds to guide interpretation. It was designed to help determine whether a patient’s cognitive impairment may be due to Alzheimer disease (AD), as well as help clinicians quickly identify patients who may benefit from confirmatory testing or who may be better suited for AD-directed therapies or trials.

    The full CogniVue assessment takes just 10 minutes and provides not only cognitive screening but also insight into whether impairment is likely related to AD. In a recent interview with NeurologyLive®, dementia expert James Galvin, MD, MPH, emphasized its utility in primary care and memory care environments, especially where access to PET scans or lumbar punctures is limited. CARM can serve as an early filter, reducing unnecessary testing and guiding clinicians toward the most appropriate next steps.

    Galvin, a professor of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and chief scientific officer at CogniVue, sees promise for CARM not just in clinical use, but in research as well. By identifying patients more or less likely to have amyloid pathology, it can improve trial efficiency, reduce costs, and refine cohort selection. He also noted the broader implications of the Bio-Hermes data, including findings that nearly half of patients clinically diagnosed with early-stage AD had negative amyloid PET scans, reinforcing the need for more precise triage tools to avoid unnecessary testing and improve precision of early detection.

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  • Oil prices gain on geopolitical risks, inventory worries – Reuters

    1. Oil prices gain on geopolitical risks, inventory worries  Reuters
    2. Oil rises on Mideast risk  Business Recorder
    3. Oil and Natural Gas Technical Analysis as Economic Data Boosts Market Sentiment  FXEmpire
    4. WTI Ends 3-Day Losing Streak Amid Supply Disruptions  TradingView
    5. Crude Oil Prices Jump on Signs of a Tightening Supply Outlook  Yahoo Finance

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  • Butchery clues reveal Neanderthals may have had “family recipes”

    Butchery clues reveal Neanderthals may have had “family recipes”

    A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals that Neanderthals living in two nearby caves in northern Israel — butchered their food in noticeably different ways. Despite using the same tools and hunting the same prey, groups in Amud and Kebara caves left behind distinct patterns of cut-marks on animal bones, suggesting that food preparation techniques may have been culturally specific and passed down through generations. These differences cannot be explained by tool type, skill, or available resources, and may reflect practices such as drying or aging meat before butchering. The findings provide rare insight into the social and cultural complexity of Neanderthal communities.

    Neanderthals lived in the nearby caves of Amud and Kebara between 50 and 60,000 years ago, using the same tools and hunting the same prey. But due to the research lead by Anaelle Jallon from the Institute of Archeology (supervisors Rivka Rabinovich and Erella Hovers) with colleagues from the Natural History Museum of London, Lucille Crete and Silvia Bello, studying the cutmarks on the remains of their prey have found that the two groups seem to have butchered their food in visibly different ways, which can’t be explained by the skill of the butchers or the resources or tools used at each site. These differences could represent distinct cultural food practices, such as drying meat before butchering it.

    Did Neanderthals have family recipes? A new study suggests that two groups of Neanderthals living in the caves of Amud and Kebara in northern Israel butchered their food in strikingly different ways, despite living close by and using similar tools and resources. Scientists think they might have been passing down different food preparation practices.

    “The subtle differences in cut-mark patterns between Amud and Kebara may reflect local traditions of animal carcass processing,” said Anaëlle Jallon, PhD candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lead author of the article in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. “Even though Neanderthals at these two sites shared similar living conditions and faced comparable challenges, they seem to have developed distinct butchery strategies, possibly passed down through social learning and cultural traditions.

    “These two sites give us a unique opportunity to explore whether Neanderthal butchery techniques were standardized,” explained Jallon. “If butchery techniques varied between sites or time periods, this would imply that factors such as cultural traditions, cooking preferences, or social organization influenced even subsistence-related activities such as butchering.”

    Written in the bones

    Amud and Kebara are close to each other: only 70 kilometers apart. Neanderthals occupied both caves during the winters between 50 and 60,000 years ago, leaving behind burials, stone tools, hearths, and food remains. Both groups used the same flint tools and relied on the same prey for their diet — mostly gazelles and fallow deer. But there are some subtle differences between the two. The Neanderthals living at Kebara seem to have hunted more large prey than those at Amud, and they also seem to have carried more large kills home to butcher them in the cave rather than at the site of the kill.

    At Amud, 40% of the animal bones are burned and most are fragmented. This could be caused by deliberate actions like cooking or by later accidental damage. At Kebara, 9% of the bones are burned, but less fragmented, and are thought to have been cooked. The bones at Amud also seem to have undergone less carnivore damage than those found at Kebara.

    To investigate the differences between food preparation at Kebara and at Amud, the scientists selected a sample of cut-marked bones from contemporaneous layers at the two sites. They examined these macroscopically and microscopically, recording the cut-marks’ different characteristics. Similar patterns of cut-marks might suggest there were no differences in butchery practices, while different patterns might indicate distinct cultural traditions.

    The cut-marks were clear and intact, largely unaffected by later damage caused by carnivores or the drying out of the bones. The profiles, angles, and surface widths of these cuts were similar, likely due to the two groups’ similar toolkits. However, the cut-marks found at Amud were more densely packed and less linear in shape than those at Kebara.

    Cooking from scratch

    The researchers considered several possible explanations for this pattern. It could have been driven by the demands of butchering different prey species or different types of bones — most of the bones at Amud, but not Kebara, are long bones — but when they only looked at the long bones of small ungulates found at both Amud and Kebara, the same differences showed up in the data. Experimental archaeology also suggests this pattern couldn’t be accounted for by less skilled butchers or by butchering more intensively to get as much food as possible. The different patterns of cut-marks are best explained by deliberate butchery choices made by each group.

    One possible explanation is that the Neanderthals at Amud were treating meat differently before butchering it: possibly drying their meat or letting it decompose, like modern-day butchers hanging meat before cooking. Decaying meat is harder to process, which would account for the greater intensity and less linear form of the cut-marks. A second possibility is that different group organization — for example, the number of butchers who worked on a given kill — in the two communities of Neanderthals played a role.

    However, more research will be needed to investigate these possibilities.

    “There are some limitations to consider,” said Jallon. “The bone fragments are sometimes too small to provide a complete picture of the butchery marks left on the carcass. While we have made efforts to correct for biases caused by fragmentation, this may limit our ability to fully interpret the data. Future studies, including more experimental work and comparative analyses, will be crucial for addressing these uncertainties — and maybe one day reconstructing Neanderthals’ recipes.”

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  • Strategies for Managing Tardive Dyskinesia, With Alejandro Alva, MD

    Strategies for Managing Tardive Dyskinesia, With Alejandro Alva, MD

    Alejandro Alva, MD

    Credit: Pacific Neuropsychiatric Specialists

    At the Southern California Psychiatry (So Cal Psych) Conference in Huntington, CA, from July 11 – 12, Alejandro Alva, MD, chief medical officer and CEO for Pacific Neuropsychiatric Specialists, presented 2 sessions: “Evaluating Patients with TD” and “Treatment-Resistant and Difficult-to-Treat Depression: Definitions and Illness Burden.” During an on-site interview, Alva shared how to identify tardive dyskinesia, the importance of “pushing the dose” to get maximum benefit, and exciting medications in the pipeline for treatment-resistant depression.

    HCPLive: Can you tell us a little bit about your session on tardive dyskinesia?

    Alva: We’re going to be talking about how to identify tardive dyskinesia. As you know, targeted kinetic movements have become an interesting topic in psychiatry. The reason why I say that is because prior to recent times, we did not have any type of treatment for that type of movement disorder…We kind of hung our hat on the risk-benefit analysis, saying, Well, you need this medication so that you don’t have psychosis, and you want to have quality of life, but then this kinetic problem could also cause social isolation. It could cause disfiguration.

    It was not until recently, with the advent of the BM2 inhibitors, that we became not only more adept at treating it but effective at treating it.

    The first order of business is to realize that a) with the use of any dopaminergic blocking medication, we run the risk of [tardive] dyskinesia. Number two, we need to be able to identify these patients, because historically, we haven’t been able to, or we haven’t really looked for it, which is even worse, right?

    What we do now is use different tools, for example, the aim scale and plain look at your patient. Okay, stick your tongue out at me. Open your mouth. Let me look at your toes…Do I see any truncal movements that shouldn’t be there? Those types of things.

    HCPLive: How do you approach choosing between the 2 available medications for tardive dyskinesia?

    Alva: It is a personal preference, really, and it also hinges on insurance constraints.

    Sometimes, we have to kind of go with the formulary. When we look at efficacy rates, they’re very similar, especially with the extended-release formulations… Sometimes you try a medication, and the patient doesn’t do as well as we would expect, and that’s when you switch…So do I have a particular preference? Not really. I will go with whatever I can get my hands on quicker so that the patient can actually benefit quicker.

    The other thing that is important is to push the dose to what I consider to be the maximum efficacious dose. A lot of clinicians tend to underdose… The challenge that I would throw out there for any clinician is [to] push the dose, see what happens, because I can guarantee you that you will be surprised.

    HCPLive: Is it fair to say that giving a therapeutic dose a full trial is essential before switching?

    Alva: Absolutely. I say, look, at least four weeks. At the very least, add a therapeutic dose. And if you get to that point and it’s not working, then, yeah, it’s fair game [to] switch. Don’t just say…there’s nothing else I can do, because we do have options.

    HCPLive: You’re also covering treatment-resistant depression. How do you define and differentiate it from difficult-to-treat depression?

    Alva: That’s an interesting topic because there is a differentiation between treatment-resistant depression and difficult-to-treat depression.

    We now know that they are treated similarly, but there are differences. What we want to put out to the general public and to our colleagues is the fact that there are multiple treatment modalities that can be used. We usually stick to medication management…We start with the simple things like an SSRI or an SNRI… and then we augment, but then what happens after we augment with multiple medications? The STAR*D trial actually showed us a very valuable lesson, and that is, we want to hit it hard from the very beginning.

    So now we are looking at other modalities. Interventional psychiatry is coming into its own. We started with ECT, and it became kind of nasty because of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But, no, we don’t do that. Then we have the advent of…transcranial magnetic stimulation, which is now one of the mainstays of interventional psychiatry.

    We are also going to be talking about vagal nerve stimulation, which is now becoming a mainstay treatment, albeit…expensive, but incredibly effective, and we use things like ketamine, s-ketamine, and things of that nature. So again, we’re not confined to only one modality.

    I always tell my patients, all right, you have 2 types of situations here. You have a biological nature or genesis of your depression. You have a psychosocial genesis of your depression. And guess what? We need to address what’s happening in your life because all the medication or all the interventions in the world are not going to help you unless you figure out that you need to grieve.

    HCPLive: Are there any new or emerging medications you’re particularly excited about?

    Alva: There’s so many different things that are happening. We went from the monoamine theory, which was the mainstay of treatment for many years. Now we are looking at GABA receptors. We’re looking at GABA modulators…glutamate modulators…muscarinic receptor agonists or antagonist as well.

    There are a number of different medications [in] the pipeline. It’s an exciting time because now we have 2 options. We can go with the monoamines, or we can go with either muscarinic or…different modulators. We are making inroads into different modalities.

    HCPLive: With so many innovations in psychiatry today, how can clinicians stay current and involved in advancing care?

    Alva: A very easy way to stay up to date is conferences like this. It’s fun because you meet new colleagues…If you do it in person, I would highly recommend it, because you run into incredible, amazing people that are very willing to compart their knowledge. The most important thing is that you have a free, open exchange of ideas.

    The second thing is, stay current. There’s so many publications, both written and online, so just look at what you have available. Keep up on the current theories and the current medications, and, more importantly, talk to your peers.

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  • Youth club ‘gutted’ after £1.2m grant is taken away

    Youth club ‘gutted’ after £1.2m grant is taken away

    Stuart Woodward

    BBC News, Essex

    Reporting fromSouthend-on-Sea
    Stuart Woodward/BBC The Lifstan Boys Club building, surrounded by overgrown grass and weeds, with an overflowing green bin to the side. The building has a pebble-dashed front with two blue-framed windows and a yellow front door. The upper half of the building is a domed curved roof with blue metal fronting and the words Lifstan Boys Club in yellow writing.Stuart Woodward/BBC

    The Lifstan Boys Club building – which the club moved into in the 1960s – was only meant to last 30 years

    Members of a youth club and a boxing club say they are devastated after £1.2m of government money to build a new facility was subsequently withdrawn, despite them already starting the work.

    Lifstan Boys Club moved out of its premises in Southend-on-Sea two years ago ahead of an anticipated rebuild, but it has been left with no home – as has Southend Amateur Boxing Club, which is now in a temporary facility which it says it cannot afford.

    The Essex Boys and Girls Clubs (EGBC) – an umbrella organisation which secured the grant – said the decision to pull the grant funding was “gutting”.

    Social Investment Business (SIB) which distributes the grants on behalf of the govrenment said it had to be confident that projects could be delivered on time and represent “good value for money”.

    ‘Ready to go’

    Lifstan Boys Club has been running since the 1950s and moved into its premises on Lifstan Way in the 1960s, with the Southend Amateur Boxing Club joining a few years later.

    A pre-fabricated building, it was only meant to last for 30 years, and its roof and floor were too costly to maintain or repair.

    Stuart Woodward/BBC Jay Solder stands inside the Lifstan Boys Club building. He wears a dark green T-shirt, has dark short hair and a stubbly beard. He stands with his arms folded across his chest. Behind him is a stage with a boxing ring in the middle, and above the stage are the words "Lifstan Boys Club"Stuart Woodward/BBC

    Jay Solder from the Essex Boys and Girls Clubs said the withdrawal of funding was “gutting”

    Stuart Woodward/BBC Four former members of the Lifstan Boys Club stand in front of a stage which bears the club's name. There is a domed white painted roof curving over the stage. The men are in their late 70s and early 80s. One on the left wears a light blue shirt and has a white goatee beard. Second from left is a man wearing a white open necked shirt. At the back is a taller man wearing a dark floral pattern shirt and glasses, and on the right end is a man wearing a dark green polo shirt, glasses and has a grey beard. All four men are smiling at the cameraStuart Woodward/BBC

    Former members of the Lifstan Boys Club said it was sad to see the building in its current state

    A grant of £1.4m to demolish the building and construct a new one was secured by EGBC from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as part of its Youth Investment Fund.

    EGBC said around £200,000 of the money had already been spent on preparatory work and surveys.

    After its initial contractor pulled out of the project, it found a new one who was “ready to go” when it heard the rest of the funding was being withdrawn.

    Jay Solder, deputy county director of EGBC, admitted there was a “slight shortfall” between the grant and actual cost of the build, but his organisation had enough funds to cover it.

    “But that wasn’t enough for SIB to deem the project worthy of continuing,” he told the BBC.

    “I just couldn’t believe that we’d invested so much time into a project, to get it so close that everyone was ready to get working – for them to still say ‘no’, it was gutting really.”

    John Plummer, treasurer of both the Lifstan Boys Club and Southend Amateur Boxing Club, said he feared the two clubs would “become extinct” without a new building.

    “I think that’s disgraceful that it could happen,” he said.

    “I hope we find a solution but I can’t see one in the near future.”

    Stuart Woodward/BBC Joel Brown wears a navy blue T-shirt with a club badge on one side of his chest for the Southend Amateur Boxing Club, and on his other side is an Adidas logo and his title of coach/child welfare officer. Joel has short brown hair and a stubbly beard. He is standing in front of a boxing ring.Stuart Woodward/BBC

    Joel Brown said it would “break my heart” if the Southend Amateur Boxing Club shut down

    The Southend Amateur Boxing Club has moved to a former dance studio a mile-and a-half (2.4km) away, but its volunteer staff said it is too expensive.

    “One month’s rent [here] is pretty much a year’s rent at Lifstan,” said Danny Neville, head coach at the boxing club and a committee member at Lifstan Boys Club.

    “This town needs this club – there’s no other youth clubs about,” he added.

    “There’s nothing left in this town apart from computer screens and crime – the kids need us.”

    Joel Brown joined the boxing club when he was just nine years old. Twenty years later, he is now the club’s child welfare officer, but he is worried about its future.

    “I don’t know if we’ll survive, to be honest with you,” he told the BBC.

    “To see it go would really be a disservice to the city, and as a Southend man it would break my heart to see it.”

    ‘Value for money’

    The Department for Culture Media and Sport declined to comment, although it said that it has invested £145m into youth programmes for 2025-26.

    A spokesperson for SIB said: “We appreciate how disappointing the loss of funding will have been for Essex Boys and Girls Club”.

    “The withdrawal of funding is never a step we want to take and is only ever a last resort.”

    But the spokesperson said it had to apply “a thorough and consistent approach to all projects as part of managing the funds for DCMS”.


    “Whilst the Youth Investment Fund seeks to support as many young people as possible in a meaningful way, with nearly 200 projects successfully completed, it also needs to be confident that projects can be delivered successfully within the timescales of the fund and represent good value for money,” they added.

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  • GravaStar and Yeston Unveil the Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT

    GravaStar and Yeston Unveil the Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT

    LOS ANGELES, July 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — GravaStar, a global leader in cyberpunk-inspired tech gear, today announced the official launch of its highly anticipated Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT graphics card, created in collaboration with renowned hardware brand Yeston. The card is now available worldwide starting July 17, 2025, at 8:00 AM EST.




    Yeston x GravaStar AMD RADEON RX 9070 XT 16GD6 Mercury Nova OC






    Yeston x GravaStar AMD RADEON RX 9070 XT 16GD6 Mercury Nova OC




    Yeston x GravaStar AMD RADEON RX 9070 XT 16GD6 Mercury Nova OC






    Yeston x GravaStar AMD RADEON RX 9070 XT 16GD6 Mercury Nova OC

    Combining the latest AMD RDNA™ 4 architecture with GravaStar’s iconic sci-fi design language, the Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT delivers extreme gaming performance in an unmistakable chassis. Designed for gamers, custom PC builders, and collectors who demand both power and personality, this GPU is a bold new entry in the high-performance graphics card category.

    “This collaboration represents everything GravaStar stands for—performance, artistry, and pushing boundaries,” said Yong Huang, Founder & CEO at GravaStar. “We’ve taken AMD’s next-gen gaming power and housed it in something visually extraordinary. This isn’t just a GPU—it’s a conversation piece.”

    Next-Gen Gaming, Futuristic Engineering

    The Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT boasts a robust 4096 stream processors, a boost clock up to 3060 MHz, and 16GB of ultra-fast GDDR6 memory, all running on a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface for maximum bandwidth. AMD FSR support and advanced AI-powered frame generation ensure fluid gameplay even at 8K resolution.

    With multi-display support for up to four screens and triple 93mm intelligent fans, the card handles heavy workloads with ease. A vapor chamber baseplate, 7×6mm composite heat pipes, and dual-ball bearing fans provide superior cooling, while fan-stop technology ensures silence under light use.

    Cyberpunk Aesthetics, RGB-Ready

    What sets the Mercury Nova apart is its hollow-out, skeletal design, inspired by GravaStar’s award-winning mechanical keyboard and speaker lines. It features multi-zone ARGB lighting that syncs with popular motherboard software such as ASUS Aura Sync and MSI Mystic Light, making it a visual centerpiece for any high-end battle station.

    Premium Build, Long-Term Stability

    Engineered with a 13+3 phase VRM, military-grade capacitors, and a 12-layer PCB, the card is optimized for stability and smooth overclocking. Triple 8-pin power connectors ensure a steady power supply, with a recommended PSU of 850W or higher.

    Key Specifications:

    • GPU Core: AMD RDNA™ 4 | 4096 Stream Processors | Dual BIOS (Standard & OC Modes)
    • Clock Speed: Up to 3060 MHz (OC Mode)
    • Memory: 16GB GDDR6 @ 20Gbps | 256-bit interface
    • Cooling: Triple 93mm Fans | Vapor Chamber | 7×6mm Heat Pipes
    • RGB Lighting: Multi-Zone | Sync with Major Software
    • Outputs: 3× DisplayPort 2.1a | 1× HDMI 2.1b
    • Max Resolution: 7680×4320 (8K) | Up to 4 Displays
    • Power: 3× 8-pin Connectors | 850W+ PSU Recommended
    • Dimensions: 334×138×68mm | Weight: 1533g | 3.5-slot

    Pricing and Availability

    The Yeston x GravaStar Mercury Nova RX 9070 XT has a MSRP of USD $899 and is available now exclusively at gravastar.com from July 17, 2025.

    About GravaStar
    Founded with a vision to merge futuristic design with cutting-edge technology, GravaStar creates cyberpunk-inspired hardware including gaming peripherals keyboards and mice, speakers, and accessories that bring personality into high-performance gear. With a fanbase spanning gamers, creators, and tech enthusiasts, GravaStar products are built to look legendary and perform beyond expectations.

    About Yeston
    Established in 2000, Yeston is a well-known PC hardware brand recognized for its creative aesthetics and high-performance solutions. Tthe company specializes in GPUs, motherboards, and other PC components, often catering to niche and enthusiast communities.

    Media Contact Information
    GravaStar
    Shanshan Wang
    [email protected]
    +1 (734) 260 4762

    SOURCE GravaStar

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  • Bidding process for 2028 and 2030 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships opens

    Bidding process for 2028 and 2030 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships opens

    The bidding process for the 2028 and 2030 editions of the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is now open.

    Member federations and host institution stakeholders interested in hosting or receiving more information about staging this event should consult the bid guide and then complete and return the bid pre-qualification form, both available via the World Athletics Library.

    The bidding process is set out in the bidding calendar. The pre-qualification form submission deadline for both editions is 1 September 2025.

    Walking is the most popular form of physical activity in the world, and the World Race Walking Team Championships can help to promote healthy, safe and sustainable host cities and communities.

    The World Race Walking Team Championships brings together the world’s best race walkers to compete for their nations on the big stage. Held over one day, all the races take place on a flat 1-2km looped course with around 450 athletes from 55 countries.

    The World Race Walking Team Championships in 2028 and 2030 will now feature the new marathon and half marathon races, along with the pre-existing U20 10km races, and the 2028 edition will be a qualifier for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

    The next edition of the World Race Walking Team Championships will be held in Brasilia, Brazil, on 12 April 2026.

    World Athletics

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  • New bionic knee connects directly with muscles and bone to feel more like the user’s body

    New bionic knee connects directly with muscles and bone to feel more like the user’s body

    A newly developed bionic knee could help people with above-the-knee amputations walk and climb with greater ease than they could with a traditional prosthesis.

    The new prosthesis, described July 10 in the journal Science, connects to a user’s leg via a titanium rod attached to their femur and permanently implanted electrodes in their leg muscles. In addition to improving movement capabilities, the prosthesis helped users feel a greater sense of ownership and agency over the prosthetic limb, the researchers said.

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  • Rosanna Arquette: ‘You pay the price for being outspoken’ | Film

    Rosanna Arquette: ‘You pay the price for being outspoken’ | Film

    You’ve acted in some killer heels. Which have been your favourite? SarahWales
    I hate high heels! I can’t remember any favourites. In between takes, I’d be in slippers or Uggs. If it’s ladylike to be in heels, then that’s not my type of lady.

    Do you think the entertainment industry still has issues with strong, outspoken, independent women? CaptainLib
    You definitely pay a price for being strong, outspoken and independent. But the women whom I admire, like Jane Fonda and Ava DuVernay, are strong, independent and speak their minds.

    What are your memories of shooting After Hours with Scorsese? Is it true Scorsese later advised you to work on Mike Hodges’ Black Rainbow? Glider and Bauhaus66
    I had a great time. It was one of those experiences that lives with you. We just celebrated the 40-year anniversary. Something happens when on a night shoot. At 4am, there’s a giddiness, a silliness. Working with Scorsese is a dream. And yes, we were on the set of New York Stories and he said: “There’s a script I think you should read, I love this director, Mike Hodges.” So I did it.

    What was it like working with Nick Nolte in New York Stories? Kellysahero1970
    He was such a character. He made me laugh a lot. He is one of the most brilliant, eccentric actors I’ve ever worked with, and he knows how to connect. I loved him a lot.

    ‘He is one of the most brilliant, eccentric actors I’ve ever worked with.’ Rosanna Arquette on Nick Nolte. Photograph: 01/Touchstone Pictures/Allstar

    What led you into directing, and your documentary, Searching for Debra Winger? repoman71
    I made it such a long time ago – gosh, 23 years ago. I was a young mother and I had my career. I wanted to talk to other female actors who were balancing their life with their art. That’s kind of the exploration of the documentary: how do we do it all? Something always seems to take the back seat. For me, it was hard to put motherhood in the back seat. I remember my daughter’s third birthday. I was supposed to have the day off, but we overshot filming, so I wasn’t going to be able to fly home from Vancouver and I was absolutely devastated.

    I thought: “This is the most horrible thing. I’m gonna miss my daughter’s birthday. It’s not worth being an actress.” But then her dad flew her up to surprise me. It got me thinking: how do you make sure your marriage doesn’t take a back seat to your career? It reminds me of Michael Powell’s The Red Shoes, where she can’t make that decision between choosing her life or her art, and she ends up dancing in front of a train. So I think I was just exploring that with other women, asking them how they do it, and it ended up being a really great conversation. I’d like to revisit it now. It’s a whole different world.

    ‘I did end up keeping the jacket, but I gave it to Peter Gabriel’s daughters and now we can’t find it, which is a bummer.’ Photograph: Herb Ritts/Orion/Kobal/Shutterstock

    What was it like making Desperately Seeking Susan, as Madonna went from hip, underground dance act to global superstar? And were you tempted to keep the jacket? HenleyRegatta and thatneilguy
    She exploded as we were making the film. It was pretty intense and overwhelming for her, but she handled it great. She wasn’t a global superstar yet. She became one while we were doing that. She had hits, but then I remember looking at her on the cover of Rolling Stone on set and thinking: “Wow!” And I did end up keeping the jacket, but I gave it to Peter Gabriel’s daughters and now we can’t find it, which is a bummer, as I’d like to have donated it to a museum.

    I saw you recently, speaking at the No Kings rally in west Hollywood. Have you always been an activist? PaulMariner
    I grew up in a family of activists. My mother was an activist. My father was an activist. Our whole family are activists in some way, shape or form. Civil rights, human rights, and the planet’s rights are really what I fight for. And, more than ever now, because I’m living in a country that unfortunately is becoming what seems like an authoritarian dictatorship. It’s very frightening.

    What was your experience of working on the 1996 Welsh/Hollywood short, Valley Girls, and what did you think of the very quintessentially Welsh turns of phrase? johnnylewis
    It was such a long time ago, I can’t even remember doing this. Is that terrible? I can’t remember a lot of the things I did. I just don’t really go and look at my work afterwards. I did see Pulp Fiction in a hotel recently. It was past my scene, so I watched the rest of it. But I don’t sit and secretly watch myself.

    I absolutely love the 1988 Luc Besson movie, The Big Blue. Was the shoot as sun-kissed and blissful as I’ve always imagined or was it a real slog being dragged to all those beautiful locations? 11LFO11
    It was nine months of sun-kissed and blissful. My daughter [Zoë Bleu Sidel] is about to star in Luc Besson’s Dracula – A Love Tale, with Christoph Waltz and Caleb Landry Jones. She had to screen test and go through all the process that actors go through. She’s the same age I was when I did The Big Blue, which seems wild.

    ‘It was nine months of sun-kissed and blissful’ … with Jean-Marc Barr in The Big Blue. Photograph: Moviestore/Shutterstock

    What was it like working with John Cleese in Silverado? PeteTheBeat
    I would call him “The Professor”. He was such a wonderful man and suggested books because I was very upset that I’d never been to college. So he was like my professor.

    If you had a time machine, like in your new film Futra Days, where would you go? TurangaLeela2
    I’m still trying to learn how to be in the present. But, if I had a time machine, I’d probably turn back time to the last election in America.

    Arquette in her new film, Futra Days. Photograph: Archstone Entertainment

    Am I gonna be in trouble if I say that? Because it seems like you can’t say anything. I’m just trying to understand: are we in America? Are we in Russia? That’s what seems to be happening here.

    Do you do Rosanna by Toto at karaoke? McScootikins
    God, no. Please. It would be so embarrassing. I’ve done Patti Smith, and Nirvana. If I do anything, I’ll do that.

    Has there been a role you wanted that would have taken your career to new heights? Kal_85
    Years ago, before it became the gigantic movie, there was an incredible script called 3000, that I was going to do with Sean Connery. It ended up going away and then coming back in its new form: Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. It originally didn’t have a happy ending. I’ve heard my sister [Patricia Arquette] tell the same story. Apparently, she was also up for it, but was too young. I dunno. Maybe?

    Futra Days in on digital platforms from 21 July

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  • Should kids use retinol? What beauty companies are selling children.

    Should kids use retinol? What beauty companies are selling children.

    It’s not an exaggeration to say that Jessica DeFino transformed my relationship with skincare. After reading her newsletter, The Review of Beauty, I started questioning the purported “anti-aging” benefits of the products I was putting on my face and asked myself what it meant to buy into a philosophy of “anti-aging” in the first place. DeFino has probably saved me thousands of dollars on skincare.

    I am, however, aging. The newest target audience for beauty advertising is decades younger than me: the teens, tweens, and even younger kids flocking to brands like Evereden. And despite some movement toward body positivity since I was a teenager, it feels like young people are growing up in a world with more exacting beauty standards than ever, from viral challenges that pressure them to work on their bodies all the time to ultra-normalized plastic surgery to weird ideas about guys’ eyelashes. To be young today is to be bombarded with a dizzying variety of messages about your own beauty or ugliness, coming from some of the world’s biggest companies as well as from influencers who are ostensibly your peers.

    To help me unpack all this, I reached out to DeFino, who got her start as an editor on the Kardashian-Jenner beauty apps, then became disillusioned with the beauty industry and evolved into one of its most incisive and influential critics. In a conversation that has been condensed and edited, she and I talked about MAGA beauty, the potential harms of slathering your skin with retinol at age 8, and why helping young people push back against our disordered beauty culture has to start with examining our own anxieties.

    Kids’ interest in skincare is often portrayed as fun or harmless, DeFino told me. But beauty “is a multibillion-dollar industry that is built on insecurity, whose physical products and procedures often have very serious physical consequences, whose messaging has very serious psychological consequences,” she said. “We must take it seriously.”

    How common is it for kids to be using skincare products that once would have been marketed to adults? And how big of a business is skincare for young people?

    It’s a huge business right now. US households with 6- to 12-year-olds spent 27 percent more on skincare in 2023 versus the year before. Beauty spending among teens increased 23 percent year over year. I don’t have this year’s statistics in front of me, but I would say it’s a very powerful growth sector for the industry.

    More brands that were formerly targeted toward adults are expanding to target teens and tweens. And at the same time, we have a lot more beauty brands entering the market that are specifically meant for infants, babies, tweens, teenagers. A year or two ago, Dior launched the Dior baby lines, which included skincare and perfume for babies. I swipe through TikTok or Instagram, and I will see mothers putting sheet masks on their 1-year-old babies, 2-year-old toddlers.

    There’s this really interesting trend that started a while ago on TikTok, where moms will hand their babies different beauty products and see if they know intuitively what to do with them. It is fascinating to see these 1-, 2-, 3-year-olds know exactly what to do with the blush brush or a serum or eyebrow pencil.

    Why has this been happening? Why are we seeing these expansions into younger markets?

    First of all, I think the collapse of age-appropriate spaces and age-appropriate media has been a huge factor. Just speaking from personal experience, growing up, there were a lot of teen- and tween-focused magazines. There were TV channels where the shows and the commercials were geared towards a specific age group.

    As media collapses and everything moves online and more into social media, we’re all hanging out in the same spaces. It’s very easy for a child to get adult content on their “For You” page. And it’s very easy for adults to be fed this teen and tween content to get outraged about.

    How many stories were there about the Sephora tweens? Which really only fed the trend.

    There’s also basic everyday capitalism: The market always needs to expand. In the past couple of years, especially, we’ve seen it expand not only to children, but to women who are 70 and 80, who are getting these full-body makeover routines. We’re seeing more and more young boys and men becoming interested in cosmetic interventions as well. This is not only a phenomenon for young girls. The market is really saturating every demographic right now.

    Filters on social media are created with cultural beauty standards in mind. Young girls might not necessarily be conscious of the fact that, like, I want to look younger, so I’m going to be using retinol or anti-aging creams. But they might be saying, I want to look just like that filter, and that filter is created with standards that prioritize looking very smooth, no lines, no wrinkles, no pores. I think the AI beauty standard and the standard of anti-aging actually share a lot of surface-level qualities.

    What are the medical or physical implications of using a lot of skincare, especially with active ingredients like retinoids, if you’re super young?

    There are a ton of potential physical consequences the more beauty products you are putting on your face, and that goes for all ages, but especially for younger people whose skin is still developing and can be more vulnerable to potential issues.

    This new study from Northwestern Medicine looked at the skincare routines of children and teens on TikTok, specifically ages 7 to 18, and how those might damage their skin long term. There’s an average of 11 potentially irritating active ingredients in the skincare routines in these videos, and some potential consequences of that are making the skin more sensitive to sunlight, which of course increases your risk of skin cancer over time; allergies; and dermatitis, which is an inflammatory condition. Any inflammation that can arise from that can also trigger psoriasis, rosacea, eczema, acne.

    Anything that you put on your skin affects the environment of bacteria that actually is there to keep the skin safe and healthy and functioning. Interfering with the skin barrier and the microbiome by layering on product after product after product can — for anyone of any age — make you dry or oily or dehydrated or sensitized. But particularly in the case of babies, there have been studies linking the overuse of soaps and scented products to developing eczema that carries on throughout a child’s whole life.

    What about the psychological and emotional aspects being initiated into this skincare industrial complex from a young age?

    The most basic place to start is just to look at the data that we have for how beauty standards affect everyone who is subject to them. We have really strong data that shows that the pressure to adhere to a particular appearance ideal increases instances of appearance-related anxiety, depression, facial dysmorphia, body dysmorphia, disordered eating, obsessive product use and overuse, self-harm, and even suicide. Personally, I think the risks are even higher when you are indoctrinated into beauty culture at younger ages. The psyche is still as vulnerable as the skin is at that point. The younger you internalize a lesson like, I must look XYZ way in order to be beautiful, the harder it is to challenge that later in life.

    I also think a lot of it reinforces gender essentialism and these ideas of traditional femininity and traditional masculinity that have other sorts of consequences beyond one’s own psychological health. These reinforce the conditions of a very oppressive society that believes women should act one way and look one way, and if you don’t, you’re not good, or you’re not a woman, or you’re not living up to your biological destiny.

    Since you brought up gender roles, I’m sure you’ve seen the discourse around MAGA beauty and conservative “chic.” I’m curious if you think some of these politicized beauty standards are trickling down to young people.

    I do, and I don’t actually think that’s out of the ordinary. What we’re seeing in, for example, Evie, which is sort of a right-leaning women’s magazine, these are the lessons that are embedded in all sorts of mainstream beauty culture, whether a brand is coded as conservative or liberal. It’s hitting in a different way now that conservatives are saying this out in the open, but these conservative messages are sort of the hidden messages in almost all beauty content that suggests you should look different than the way you currently look in order to be beautiful or healthy or happy or worthy.

    If outrage about Sephora tweens just feeds into more marketing, what is a good social response to some of the trends that we’re seeing?

    When we see our adult behaviors mirrored back to us by children, we can see some of the absurdity of it, and we can see some of the danger of it. I don’t think the correct or useful response is to be like, Okay, we’ve got to stop young girls from doing this. We have to look at ourselves.

    We have to look at the adult beauty culture that we have created and we’re participating in and we’re perpetuating. And if we don’t think that is something for a young girl to see or to participate in, we have to be part of the project of dismantling that, not just for young girls, but for all women.

    This is a problem for adults to solve, and we’re not going to solve it by pointing and laughing at children and saying, look at how dumb they are. They care about anti-aging because you care about anti-aging, and it’s just as ridiculous when you do it, because you are hurtling toward death. It’s not going to change if you have a few fewer wrinkles.

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