Science

Psychedelic mushrooms are getting much, much stronger

Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, one of the species most commonly consumed, are among the most heavily inbred… Cultivators are using genetic sequencing and are hybridizing cultivars from ever more distant lineages to hunt for improvements, plus sheer aesthetic novelty. Technological advancements have allowed for fungal cells to more easily be manipulated during breeding, and developments in chromatographic…

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Psilocybin increases optimistic engagement over time: computational modelling of behaviour in rats

The model revealed that after receiving psilocybin, rats achieve more rewards through increased task engagement… As optimism bias is associated with increased engagement with the world and depression is linked to diminished optimism… all experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the Australian Code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes and…

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Different hierarchical reconfigurations in the brain by psilocybin and escitalopram for depression

The results showed that the two pharmacological interventions created significantly different hierarchical reconfigurations of whole-brain dynamics… the main hypothesis is that psychedelics can bring about a relaxation of the precision of high-level priors or ‘beliefs’ (REBUS), allowing (anarchic) bottom–up information flow, consistent with ‘anarchic’ (that is, hierarchy-free) system dynamics. This theory is consistent with our…

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New method tracks how psychedelics affect neurons in minutes

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs. The protein-based tool, which is called Ca2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST… This research provides scientists with a new technique that could be used to track step by step the molecular…

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Fatal overdoses increase after police seize drugs, study finds

“The ubiquity of fentanyl in the drug supply affords people who use drugs almost no margin of error if they make a dosing mistake,” Brandon del Pozo, an assistant professor (research) at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and School of Public Health said … …for decades, efforts by police to seize illicit drugs have…

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…to know about the drug known as ‘gas station heroin’

Tianeptine has already become part of the nation’s struggle with opioids. Drug dealers have used it to make counterfeit hydrocodone and oxycodone pills… or to fill baggies made to resemble heroin packages. In their work, Jonathan Javitch, a professor at Columbia University and a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Dali and…

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Stimulant users caught up in fatal ‘fourth wave’ of opioid epidemic

In the U.S., the first wave of the long-running and devastating opioid epidemic began with the abuse of prescription painkillers (early 2000s); the second wave involved an increase in heroin use, starting around 2010. The third wave began when powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl started appearing in the supply around 2015. Now experts are observing…

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Magic mushrooms may have shaped our consciousness

No toxic or lethal Psilocybe species are known. Evidence indicates that early hominids – our extinct ancestors – had been picking and eating “magic mushrooms” up to six million years ago. The practice likely influenced the development of human cognition and awareness, according to a recent review examining psilocybin’s effect on human consciousness… published in June 2024… recent studies have shown…

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