While psychedelics have been used in trials and treatment for alcohol disorders during the 1940s and ’50s, a recent study has revealed that psilocybin (the ingredient found in magic mushrooms) coupled with psychotherapy can reduce heavy drinking by 83% in just eight months. The study (published in JAMA Psychiatry) comes as part of the largest clinical trial of its kind at NYU Langone Center for …
A Battery Powered by Bacteria and Sweat Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have engineered a bacteria-based battery that can produce power from human sweat. The key to their innovation is bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens, a bacteria that can produce electricity and has been used to explore microbial batteries. However, its need to be fed a constant diet has limited its functionality. To get around …
In a fascinating long-read, Katie McBride at Inverse traces the controversial and little-known connection between LSD and Alcoholics Anonymous. When co-founder and hero of the abstinence-only program, Bill Wilson, dropped acid 66 years ago, he had two decades sober and AA was in full swing. This experience would “fundamentally transform his outlook on recovery, horrify AA leadership and disappoint hundreds of thousands who had credited …
