…potential adaptive advantages psiloids may confer to fungi. Fungi produce diverse metabolites that can have antimicrobial, antifungal, antifeedant, or psychoactive properties. Among these metabolites are the tryptamine-derived compounds psilocybin, its precursors, and natural derivatives (collectively referred to as psiloids), which have played significant roles in human society and culture. Original Article (SSRN):The evolution and ecology…
Where we have two traditionally recognized genders, male and female, some species of fungi can have thousands of sexes… to mate, all a fungus has to do is bump up against another member of its species and let their cells fuse together. It sounds confusing, but it’s actually helpful – with so many variations, the…
The researchers highlight that while their study is not the first to image the brain under the influence of psychedelics or the first to show the signatures of brain activity linked to psychedelics, it is the first to combine imaging techniques to study the brain during a highly immersive psychedelic experience. The fMRI scans found…
Perhaps the most important conclusion which can be drawn from the present analysis is that most kinds of illicit drug use are nowhere near as lethal as would be assumed from reading mass media reports or heeding government warnings, and that two of our three legal psychoactive drugs, alcohol and tobacco, are far more likely…
Indigenous use of psychedelic plants may have played a significant role in developing and maintaining spiritual, animistic, and religious beliefs; during the countercultural movement in the ’60s, the popularity of LSD may have been a significant catalyst in the proposed transformation of society’s norms and values. These examples appear to suggest that psychedelics may profoundly affect…
A new paper has turned science’s understanding of how psychedelics affect the brain upside down by solving a longstanding molecular mystery in the field. Psychedelics are thought to produce their effects by activating the serotonin (5-HT)2A receptor class. These receptors are present on the surface of neurons throughout the brain. The answer may have been found by looking…
“As a part of our survey, we gave people the option to leave comments about anything they thought might be important for our research,” Emma Morton, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbian, explained. “Despite the fact that our survey found many people experienced negative or unwanted…
Dr. John Kelly of Trinity College in Ireland suggests interventions to the microbiome could be used as preparation and integration phases of psychedelic journeys. The theoretical framework he presents even hints the microbiome’s established effects on mood might only be part of the story, [saying,] “It is conceivable that certain gut microbiota configurations and associated…
2023 is shaping up to be an especially active year for psychedelics policy changes in legislatures across the [United States]… …[according to] the findings of [an] analysis published in an American Medical Association journal [in December 2022]. That study concluded that a majority of states will legalize psychedelics by 2037, based on statistical modeling of…
Patients characterized by stress-related disorders such as depression display elevated circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a hyperactive HPA axis. Psychedelics are demonstrating promising results in treatment of such disorders… Psilocybin immediately reduced concentrations of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), while other inflammatory markers (interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, and C-reactive protein (CRP)) remained…
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