Science

…’terrifying’ threat from xylazine…

“Almost 100% of our drug supply is fentanyl and 80% to 90% of that fentanyl is adulterated with xylazine,” said Dr. Elizabeth Krans, a physician and researcher at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. Xylazine is a potent animal tranquilizer normally used by veterinarians. For reasons that aren’t completely clear, drug gangs began mixing it into…

READ MORE
Science

Scientists uncover fascinating link between psychedelic experiences and heart activity

“Most psychedelic research has focused on the brain, but I became increasingly convinced that we were overlooking something crucial. This idea was reinforced by the growing field of somatic therapy and the way psychedelics seem to help reconnect people’s minds with their bodies,” said study author Valérie Bonnelle, an independent researcher who received a PhD…

READ MORE
Science

Cactus dreams: Revealing the secrets of mescaline making

In a new study published in Molecular Plant, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have made the first, crucial move toward ensuring sustainable production of mescaline: They have revealed, step by step, how exactly it is manufactured in peyote. “Learning how to copy this natural process with biotechnology will help ensure a steady supply of mescaline for the development…

READ MORE
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…

READ MORE
Science

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…

READ MORE
Science

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…

READ MORE
Science

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…

READ MORE
Science

…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…

READ MORE