René Portocarrero, La Habana, c. 1960s.
René Portocarrero: Havana (circa 1960s)
New breakthrough brings researchers closer to a “functional cure” for HIV
Three people were able to suppress the virus for months without their usual treatment regimen.
Greg Owen May 16, 2026 (LGBTQNation.com)
A 3D medical illustration showing an HIV retrovirus targeting T-cells. | Shutterstock
An HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco, presented evidence this week of a major advance in the search for a “functional cure” for HIV infection
“It is inspiration and a potential road map to get to where we need to go,” said Dr. Steve Deeks, who leads a team of researchers at Caring Cross, a nonprofit focused on developing broadly available immunotherapies.
Related
A cure for HIV is in sight. Here’s what scientists are working on.
Deeks presented the group’s findings at a gene therapy conference in Boston on Tuesday.
After a single infusion of immune cells engineered to recognize HIV, the virus in two study participants was suppressed to undetectable levels. Suppression has lasted nearly two years for one of the patients, The New York Times reports.
Based on technology already developed to attack cancer cells, the scientists at Caring Cross engineered immune cells from each study participant to carry two molecules on the immune cells’ surface. Both bind to HIV and kill infected cells, but one also prevents the immune cells from becoming infected.
“It’s this dual nature of targeting — killing and protecting — that we think is the missing piece in terms of how this therapy works,” Dr. Boro Dropulić, executive director of Caring Cross, told The Times.
After extracting and modifying each patient’s immune cells, researchers injected them back in, in a process called infusion.
HIV positive individuals who stop taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) will typically see the virus roar back within two weeks. But two of the study participants have remained undetectable after 92 and 48 weeks, respectively, after infusion and simultaneously stopping antiretroviral therapy.
A third participant partially suppressed the virus for 12 weeks before rebounding.
All three participants had started antiretroviral therapy shortly after infection, a key finding versus others in the study who lived longer with HIV before taking ARVs, and who didn’t respond as well to the modified immune cell therapy.
Researchers say that might be because HIV hides deep in the body where it evades both the immune system and drugs designed to track it down; the longer an individual harbors HIV without the suppressing effects of ARV therapy, the longer it has a chance to replicate and build up in those deep recesses.
“Three out of three people with early disease doing some degree of control, to me, is the most provocative finding here,” Dr. Deeks said.
“This work represents the culmination of years of scientific and clinical effort to develop a therapy that harnesses the body’s own immune cells to fight HIV,” Dr. Dropulić said in a statement from the group. He called it an important step toward “a definitive therapeutic solution.”
“We have already advanced next-generation versions that we expect will further enhance the potency and durability of the anti-HIV response, bringing us closer to a lasting, potentially one-time treatment.”
Scientists envision a single shot that one day will keep HIV at undetectable levels for a lifetime, a “functional cure” that takes into account HIV’s still unexplained ability to linger deep in the body, however healthy an individual may be.
Remarkable strides in treatment have already been made over the last several years, keeping the virus at bay with ARVs in daily pill form and monthly or bi-monthly injections, along with longer-acting options in the pipeline, including weekly and monthly pills, and shots that could be given just once a year.
On the prevention side, use of PrEP has grown to more than 3.5 million people worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health.
An affordable “one-time treatment” for the virus would all but spell the end of the HIV epidemic, eliminating the potential interruptions in sustained treatment for at-risk populations seen in the current administration’s dismantling of PEPFAR worldwide, and the loss of health insurance coverage and access from Medicaid cuts in the U.S.
Caring Cross estimates 1.3 million new HIV infections occur each year, more than 700,000 people die annually from HIV-related causes, and more than 40 million people are living with HIV worldwide.
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Greg Owen writes about politics and culture for LGBTQ Nation. An award-winning writer, producer and journalist, he was recently recognized for Excellence in Online Journalism by NLGJA: the Association of LGBTQ Journalists for his coverage of the 2024 election. He’s written for Q Digital since 2015 and for LGBTQ Nation since 2022.
Death Cafe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Named after | Bernard Crettaz’s “café mortel” |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2011 |
| Founder | Jon Underwood |
| Legal status | Non-profit |
| Purpose | Death |
| Website | https://deathcafe.com/ |
A Death Cafe is a scheduled non-profit get-together (called “social franchises” by the organisers) for the purpose of talking about death over food and drink, usually tea and cake. The idea originates with the Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Bernard Crettaz, who organized the first café mortel in 2004.[1] Jon Underwood, a UK web developer, was inspired by Crettaz’s work, introduced the death cafe to London in 2011, and launched the Death Cafe website.[2] They have since been held in many countries.
Format and purpose
Death Cafes are events, usually lasting two hours with around a dozen participants, were people discuss their understanding, thoughts, dreams, fears and any other aspects of death and dying over tea and cake.There is no fixed venue, and the events have previously been held in homes, rented halls, restaurants, cafes[3][4][5][6], a cemetery[7] and a yurt.[8] Some Death Cafes have specifically created an opportunity for health-care professionals to talk about death.[9]
The Death Cafe website states the purpose is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives”.[10] The open-ended discussions also provide an avenue to express thoughts about one’s own life stirred up by the death of a family member.[9]
Crettaz said that his aim of his café mortel was to break the “tyrannical secrecy” surrounding the topic of death,[3] and that at these gatherings, “the assembled company, for a moment, and thanks to death, is born into authenticity.”[11] This is echoed by Underwood, who stated that “we have lost control of one of the most significant events we ever have to face”,[8] and facilitators who have said that there is “a need among people to open [the] closet”[4] into which death, the “last taboo”, has been placed, to reduce fear and enable people to live more fully.[3][4]
History
Crettaz organized the first café mortel in 2004 in Neuchâtel,[3][12] and in 2010 brought the idea to Paris.[citation needed] He published a book titled Cafés Mortels: Sortir la Mort du Silence (Death Cafes: Bringing Death out of Silence).[13] According to one commentator, Crettaz wanted to revive the pagan tradition of the funeral feast, “where the living would renew their bonds while letting go of what weighed on their hearts”.[14]
In 2011, inspired by Crettaz and with his guidance, Underwood held the first London Death Cafe at his home in Hackney.[3][10] He subsequently developed the Death Cafe website, generating guidelines with his mother, psychotherapist Susan Barsky Reid, and the concept was taken up globally.[4][15][16] The first US event was organized by Lizzy Miles, a hospice worker, in summer 2012 near Columbus, Ohio.[17][18][19] By June 2014, the idea had spread to Hong Kong,[20] and it was subsequently popularized in Shanghai by a non-profit organization that provides hospice services to cancer patients.[21] Café Totentanz or Totentanz-Café is used in German-speaking areas.[12][22]
In February 2013, a Death Cafe in London was filmed.[23]
Underwood died in June 2017; Death Cafe has since been run by his mother Susan Barsky Reid, his sister Jools Barsky, and his wife Donna Molloy.[24][10]
After hosting a Death Café in Perth, Scotland, counsellor and social entrepreneur Rachel Weiss was inspired to use the model for talking about menopause.[citation needed] Weiss hosted the first Menopause Café in 2017 in Perth and there are now cafés across the world.[25]
“What then is the American, this new man?”
“What then is the American, this new man? He is neither an European, nor the descendant of an European…He is an American. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world…. The American ought therefore to love his country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born.”
― J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
Key Characteristics of this “New Man” from Google AI:
Crèvecœur outlined several fundamental traits that defined this emerging American identity: [1, 2, 3]
- The Melting Pot: Crèvecœur observed that Americans were a “strange mixture of blood”, combining English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, and German heritages—a blend found nowhere else in the world.
- Upward Mobility and Self-Reliance: Unlike the rigid social classes of Europe, where a few possessed everything and the majority had nothing, the American was free from oppressive lords and despotic princes. They were independent, hard-working, and rewarded directly for their own labor.
- Driven by Self-Interest: The new American was motivated by a desire to improve their life and provide for their family, thriving in a land that offered them land, bread, and protection.
- Adaptability: This new man easily embraced new modes of life and obeyed a new government, willingly shedding old world traditions in favor of embracing new ones. [1, 2, 3, 4]
You can read the original text in Letter III of Letters from an American Farmer to explore this historical vision of the American character in depth. [1]
Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur, naturalized in New York as John Hector St. John, was a French-American writer, diplomat, and farmer. Wikipedia
Born January 31, 1735, Caen, France
Died November 12, 1813 (age 78 years), Sarcelles, France
Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution | Jonathan Turley
Socrates in the City May 22, 2026 2 products Socrates in the City earns commission on tagged products. Why do most revolutions collapse into chaos, tyranny, or bloodshed, while the American Revolution produced one of the most enduring republics in history? In this episode of The Revolution, Socrates in the City’s newest program, host Eric Metaxas is joined by American author and legal scholar, Jonathan Turley to discuss his book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. They use Thomas Paine’s journey as the lens through which to explore that question. A man who stood at the center of both the American and French Revolutions, Paine embodied the brilliance and danger of revolutionary fervor itself: visionary yet reckless, prophetic yet deeply flawed. Alongside his unlikely friendship with Benjamin Franklin, this conversation examines why America succeeded where so many revolutions failed, the tension between liberty and rage, and the enduring invitation of the American experiment today. Get Professor Turley’s new book “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution” https://a.co/d/0a3A8quu
Michio Kaku on Reality
The Diary Of A CEO May 21, 2026 New Episodes Theoretical physicist Dr Michio Kaku has spent 70 years searching for the single equation that could explain everything in existence. He reveals why there’s almost certainly life beyond Earth, how quantum computers will soon crack every bank account and digital codes, and why the secret to human immortality already exists! Dr Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, co-founder of String Field Theory, and Professor at the City College of New York. He is one of science’s most prominent public communicators, and is also the author of bestselling books such as, ‘Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything’. He explains: ◼️Why aliens almost certainly exist but will probably never reach us ◼️Why travelling to the nearest star would take 70,000 years, and the only way around it ◼️What 70 years studying the universe taught him about the meaning of life ◼️What caused the Big Bang and the theory that says new universes are being born right now ◼️What’s inside a black hole and why it might be a doorway to another universe 00:00 Intro 03:23 What Is The Theory Of Everything? 04:18 What Viewers Really Want To Know About The Universe 05:14 Our Biggest Misunderstanding About Reality 05:56 Are We Alone In The Universe? 07:16 Are UAP Sightings Evidence Of Extraterrestrial Life? 09:35 Would Governments Hide Aliens From Us? 10:24 Could Life Exist On Planets Close To Earth? 11:22 Could Humans Ever Travel Across The Universe? 11:53 The Star Mysteriously Losing 20% Of Its Light 14:04 What Really Happened During The Big Bang? 15:39 What String Theory Could Reveal About Reality 19:31 What Caused The Big Bang? 21:50 Why Planets Orbit The Sun 23:21 Is There Any Evidence For The Multiverse? 24:08 What Black Holes Really Are 27:27 What Could Be Inside A Black Hole? 28:57 Why I Set Out To Finish This Man’s Life’s Work 29:49 A Physicist’s Perspective On God 30:59 Could We Be Living In A Simulation? 33:28 Why Your Reality Is Only A Fraction Of Reality 37:04 Why Life Matters In An Infinite Universe 38:50 How Religion Could Be A Consequence Of Evolution 40:50 What Consciousness Reveals About Being Human 43:08 Why AI Is Not As Smart As You Think 47:29 Could AI Unlock New Scientific Discoveries? 47:56 Should We Be Worried About AI? 48:58 What Humans Can Do That AI Still Can’t 49:23 Ads 51:31 Could The Big Bang Be A Bubble Bath? 52:28 Do The Stories In The Bible Hold Up? 54:37 Where Morality Really Comes From 58:03 Is Warfare Built Into Human Nature? 59:09 Are There Infinite Universes? 01:00:55 Why The Scale Of The Universe Makes Us Feel So Small 01:02:49 Will Humanity Destroy Itself Before Finding The Answers? 01:05:23 Will Humans Ever Travel To Other Planets? 01:06:32 The One Mystery Of The Universe Worth Solving 01:07:51 The Hidden Patterns Behind Nature 01:08:37 Is The Brain As Fascinating As The Universe? 01:08:53 How Life Could Change By The Year 2100 01:09:57 The Secret To Immortality 01:11:43 What Quantum Computers Could Change Forever 01:13:45 Google’s Quantum Computer Warning 01:16:14 How He Built An Atom Smasher In High School 01:17:58 Ads 01:20:11 What Made Him More Open Minded About Reality 01:21:19 Do Ghosts Really Exist? 01:22:20 Are Energy And Auras Real? 01:23:01 The Belief He Has Not Proven Yet 01:23:35 Does Legacy Really Matter? 01:24:35 Do His Predictions Always Come True? 01:25:32 What The UFO Files Actually Revealed 01:26:36 Has Non-Human Life Visited Earth? 01:28:47 The Best Way To Deal With Failure 01:29:20 The Advice He Would Give His 8 Year Old Self 01:30:14 Would Aliens Have Empathy? 01:32:47 How Humanity Should Treat Alien Life 01:35:00 What Jobs Will AI Take First? 01:36:36 How AI Agents Execute A Plan Follow Dr Michio: X – https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/fTQ1ze Website – https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AkR5q8z You can purchase Dr Michio’s book, ‘Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything’, here: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/Gi4eG6M
Map Shows US Cities That Could Go Underwater if Sea Levels Rise 3 Meters
By admin | May 23, 2026 | (Newsweek.com)
By Jasmine Laws
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
Scientists are warning that the collapse of Antarctica’s massive “doomsday glacier” could eventually redraw large parts of America’s coastline, threatening major cities from Florida to California with severe flooding and rising seas.
Researchers say the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is becoming increasingly unstable, raising fears that its eventual collapse could contribute to dramatic long-term sea level rise.
While the glacier itself could add around 65 centimeters (roughly 2 feet) to global sea levels, some scientists worry it could destabilize much larger sections of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet—potentially contributing to sea level rise approaching 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) over time.
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Such a rise would dramatically alter large stretches of the U.S. coastline, threatening homes, infrastructure, airports and major cities across several states.
Glacier On The ‘Cusp of Collapse’
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is seen in this undated NASA image. Right now, Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets both contribute under or near 1 …Read More | NASA/Reuters
David Holland, a professor of mathematics and atmosphere/ocean science at New York University, told Newsweek that the glacier is on the “cusp of collapse,” and that he was “concerned” about it.
“It is held back on its sides by the buttressing provided by the ice shelf in front of it, which is now about to collapse,” he explained. The glacier is also held back by “a hump in the seafloor at its current grounding line,” he added, which he said “may be next to go, given the high rate of melt occurring there.”
The result of the glacier’s collapse would be vast. Holland said that “certainly, low-lying cities and states in the U.S. would experience floods,” while many other cities and countries would “undergo stress” as well.
Which American Cities Could Be Flooded?
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projection maps show that a 3-meter rise in sea levels would inundate major parts of the U.S. coastline, with some of the country’s most populated urban areas facing chronic flooding or partial submersion.
Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast
Florida would be among the hardest-hit states. Large parts of the coastline could disappear beneath rising seas, while cities including Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Panama City would face severe flooding risks. Large stretches of low-lying coastal communities across the state could also become uninhabitable.
Large sections of the Gulf Coast would also be exposed. Cities and communities along the Texas coastline near Galveston Bay, Freeport and Surfside Beach could see extensive inundation, while low-lying parts of Louisiana, including areas around New Orleans, would remain especially vulnerable.
Other coastal cities at risk include Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; and parts of New Jersey, Delaware and Mississippi.
New York City would face widespread flooding risks across parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Lower Manhattan. Critical infrastructure, including Newark Liberty International Airport and nearby transport links, could also be affected. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey—one of the venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup—lies within an area vulnerable to flooding under NOAA’s projections.
West Coast
A screenshot of an NOAA map showing which U.S. cities would be underwater if there was a 10-foot sea level rise. | NOAA
In California, areas around the San Francisco Bay, Oakland, San Mateo and parts of Southern California near San Diego and Oxnard would also face major impacts.
Notable parts of the landscape and wildlife reserves could also be affected, including Big Lagoon, the Brush Creek/Lagoon Lake Wetlands and Coastal Dunes Natural Preserve, the Ventura County Game Reserve as well as vast amounts of the California Coastal National Monument.
Why Scientists Are Worried by the Thwaites Glacier
Thwaites is the widest glacier on the planet, stretching around 120 kilometers (75 miles), and its basin measures around 192,000 kilometers squared, meaning it is larger than the state of Florida.
Over the years, Thwaites—located in West Antarctica—has been losing ice at an increasing pace, and since 2000 the glacier has experienced a net loss of more than 1 trillion tons of ice.
The tongue of the glacier—which is the extension that floats out over water—has continued to fracture and separate from the ice shelf in recent years, as images from NASA show. The floating ice is now melting, given that the seawater is a few degrees above freezing as warmer water temperatures have recently been recorded in the region.
Update 5/20/26, 8:15 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from David Holland.
Everytime Philomena Cunk talked about God
Philomena Cunk May 5, 2026 Is he in a cupboard or not? Twitter: OnCunk Sharing all things Cunk – a fictional character from Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, Cunk on Britain, Cunk on Shakespeare and Cunk on Earth – Portrayed by the incredible Diane Morgan.
Featured Books from New Thinking Allowed
This unique study is the first to follow the narrative thread of the dead from Memories, Dreams, Reflections into The Red Book, assessing Jung’s thoughts on their presence, his obligations to them, and their role in his psychological model. It offers the opportunity to examine this previously neglected theme unfolding during Jung’s period of intense confrontation with the unconscious, and to understand active imagination as Jung’s principle method of managing that unconscious content.
With Séance, Taggart offers a series of haunting photographs exploring spiritualist practices in the US, England and Europe. Supported with a commentary on her experiences, a foreword by Dan Aykroyd, creator of Ghostbusters and fourth-generation spiritualist, and illustrated essays from Andreas Fischer and Tony Oursler, Séance examines spiritualism’s relationship with human celebrity and its connections with technology, and concludes with the debate over ectoplasm and how spiritualism can move forward in the 21st century.
This book is about the phenomena and integration of the awakening process inherent in human evolution. The author explores how a fundamental shift in consciousness has the power to change our most deeply held assumptions about culture, health and disease, sexuality, parenting, war, and most importantly, relationships. With The Black Butterfly, Richard Moss has composed a symphony of wonderment and beauty about love and aliveness, while also reclaiming the healing potential of our darker secrets.
