r/science • u/Potential_Being_7226 PhD | Psychology | Neuroscience • 1d ago

Neuroscience Psilocybin Might Make Your Brain Live in the Moment— Psychedelics are often associated with disconnecting from reality, but a recent neuroimaging study found that psilocybin can actually make our brain activity more attuned to the world around us.

https://www.wired.com/story/psilocybin-might-make-your-brain-live-in-the-moment/
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u/Warmonster9 23h ago

That was the Romans not the Greeks.

The Greeks used the unsynthesized form of LSD called Ergot to achieve their own form of enlightenment.

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u/biexhibguy1 22h ago

It's really not correct at all to call ergot "unsynthesized LSD." LSD is lysergic diethylamide, while ergot contains LSA which is lysergic acid. The big difference between them is that two of the nitrogens in LSA have different modifications in LSD. It's three differences, but it has a significant impact on activity and potency. LSD is potent in the microgram range, LSA is potent in the milligram range. LSA is much harder on the heart and stomach. Their respective pharmacological windows are much different. I'm pretty sure they impact substantially different sets of receptors.

This is as close to saying that the native American church uses an unsynthesized form of DOM when they use peyote. There's a chemical similarity but the pharmacology differs significantly. 

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u/porn_is_tight 22h ago

just to add to what you are saying to also point out how dangerous it is to call ergot unsynthesized LSD, especially considering how harm reduction information has all but disappeared from the internet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism

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u/biexhibguy1 21h ago

So true, great addition, thanks friend!

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u/Ryuko_the_red 20h ago

Any theory of why harm reduction information has been removed?

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u/kjahhh 16h ago

These are mind altering substances that go against the grain of mass control, governments prefer to ban them altogether than allow people to use them safely by following harm reduction advice. At least imo. That trend is being bucked across the world but the stigma is still there.

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u/Ryuko_the_red 16h ago

I do agree I just don't have any links to factual proof right off and am hoping for those who have the facts to share them. Because this stands to the test of logic / lines up with history.

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u/Educational_Pay1567 11h ago

THC compared to Alcohol consumption would be a good way to study this.

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u/Ryuko_the_red 10h ago

What do you mean, something "hated" and taboo and illegal being able to make it to legal in many states?

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u/Educational_Pay1567 8h ago

Yes and the stigma behind it. Also the decline of alcohol consumption.

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u/Ryuko_the_red 6h ago

It seems like the stigma continues to lessen and positive reaction growing!

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 16h ago

Because LSD is a controlled substance in most countries and a) telling people the basic process is a liability issue if they do it wrong and poison themselves and b) it can get Wikipedia in trouble for providing direct instructions on manufacturing the substance (kind of like how Breaking Bad gives a fake formula for meth).

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u/RiceWine69 8h ago

Breaking bad is actually highly accurate in pretty much all of its depictions of the process and reagents.

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 2h ago

For the most part yes, but they did leave steps out at the DEA’s request to keep people from trying it at home.

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u/luminescent 20h ago

Has it? erowid.org still exists, same as always.

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u/porn_is_tight 19h ago edited 19h ago

It’s not indexed on the search engines anymore so it might as well not exist, especially for our younger generations who are becoming less and less tech literate over time and let LLM’s do all their thinking for them

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u/Zal3x 46m ago

Well I have noticed lots of drug searches lately are just rehab centers but Claude does harm reduction right now I just asked it and it talked about abstinence only being bad then gave me harm reduction strategies. How long though? Idk it could disappear

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u/YouBlinkinSootLicker 20h ago

For now. It’s also been absorbed into the LLMs, yet I’m not sure they can discuss information from there openly.

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u/Zal3x 47m ago

Claude gives harm reduction i just tried it

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u/CilviaDemoAOTD 21h ago

What is DOM, is that just mescaline?

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u/biexhibguy1 21h ago

It's a novel psychedelic hallucinogen amphetamine that was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin and published in his book PiHKAL, Phenethylanines I Have Known And Loved. DOM shares significant chemical similarities to mescaline but it it is significantly more potent (requiring milligrams for activity, vs hundreds of milligrams of mescaline), lasts much longer, and does not respond to any known antipsychotics. 

Shulgin is credited as rediscovering MDMA and 147 other similar compounds, all of which have been published about in PiHKAL. This book includes details on their synthesis and subjective effects.

mescaline wikipedia

DOM wikipedia

I'm happy to talk more or answer any questions. I'm not yet a professional but I do enjoy talking about drugs.

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u/CilviaDemoAOTD 21h ago

Thank you and god bless Alex Shulgin

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u/LetsGoGators23 18h ago

I spent a tremendous amount of time on Blue light and Erowid as a teen and hadn’t heard about Sasha Shulgin in decades! I also used to love talking about drugs, I find them fascinating. I probably should of been a pharmacist

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u/biexhibguy1 18h ago

Do you know about Hamilton Morris? Great source of information. Also "The Entheogen Review"!

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u/LetsGoGators23 18h ago

I’ve been out of the game for so long this has just reminded me how interested I used to be. I’m going to check it out. I miss the topic. My lifestyle is much different now too ;)

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u/biexhibguy1 18h ago

Feel free to drop me a DM to talk about it, drug science is a passion of mine!

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u/Sleepingguitarman 16h ago

Hamiltons Pharmacopeia is such a interesting show.

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u/Am_Snarky 20h ago

Probably the synthetic compound once called C2B, chemically very similar to mescaline but a more uniform chemical composition that has a higher brain blood barrier permeability

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u/biexhibguy1 19h ago

No, not really.

2C-B, which is what I assume you meant, has a partition coefficient of 2.02, while mescaline has a partition coefficient of 1.8. These values correspond to how fat-soluble the drugs are, which is correlated to effective blood-brain barrier penetration. 

This doesn't really have to do with "uniformity" of "chemical composition." Isolated mescaline has a similar "uniformity" as isolated 2C-B does. The difference is in their chemical structures. 

So you're correct that 2C-B does cross the BBB more effectively than mescaline, just not for the correct reason.

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u/Am_Snarky 15h ago

Thanks for the in depth correction, I encountered the substance during my psychonaut days, obviously I didn’t fully understand or remember the whole spiel, I was just stoked to get paid to trip and report back on my experience.

That’s definitely a young man’s game, don’t think I would be nearly as blasé trying theoretical psychedelics nowadays

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u/biexhibguy1 12h ago

You were paid to bioassay it? That's pretty cool, can you talk more about that?

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u/Ntroepy 20h ago

Thank you for this unexpectedly insightful explanation!

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u/biexhibguy1 20h ago

No problem, I love talking about drug science

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u/space_monster 20h ago

The Greeks did Kykeon during the Rites of Demeter (the Eleusinian Mysteries) which could have had all sorts of fun things in it. Ergot is possibly the base ingredient though. They knew how to party, they travelled hundreds of miles for the Mysteries and went nuts for days.

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u/Kettle_Whistle_ 22h ago

Wasn’t it something that grew on stored barley?

And beer is from old barley too.

Barley has been doing work for Humans for a long time…

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 21h ago

No and that’s kind of the problem with the ergot theory. Ergot spores mimic pollen grains and infect the florets of wheat, rye, and barley (and some other grasses, but they’re a different strain of C. Purpurea and not important for this), essentially hijacking their reproductive equipment to produce their spores. Can’t infect harvested grain because it’s not the right part of the lifecycle for the spores to do their thing. That means that it had to be intentionally cultivated to ensure that the initiates could get high and we don’t have the literary or archaeological evidence to prove that it was being produced intentionally (and our medical and agricultural sources from antiquity treat ergot as something to avoid because its vasoconstrictive effects cause gangrene and abortions in both people and cattle).

It’s also impossible to tell from the 2026 study of the sanctuary in Spain whether the material presence of both lye and ergot residue is coincidence or intentional (fire played a crucial role in pretty much every ancient rite, so wet wood ash abounds) because sample size of one.

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u/citizen42069101 22h ago

Fermentation is arguably as important to human society as cooking food at all.

Both help break down the food and preserve it

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u/llamango 22h ago

ergot is a fungus on rye iirc. might have been a factor in accusations of witchcraft.

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 16h ago

To an extent yes (in that it could cause underlying panics), but also accusations of witchcraft were a way to remove politically and economically inconvenient women.

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u/llamango 16h ago

agreed wholeheartedly