The Psychedelic Road to Other Conscious States

How do a few pounds of gray goo in our skulls create our conscious experience—the blue of the sky, the tweet of the birds? Few questions are so profound and important—or so hard. We are still very far from an answer. But we are learning more about what scientists call...

Decoding the Tripping Brain

Scientists are beginning to unravel the mechanisms behind the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs. Lying in a room at Imperial College London, surrounded by low lighting and music, Kirk experienced a vivid recollection of visiting his sick mother before she...

Crash course in the nature of mind.

Roland Griffiths’ psilocybin experiments have produced striking evidence for therapeutic uses of hallucinogens Roland Griffiths first tried meditation as a grad student in the early 1970s. He lasted only a few weeks. He wanted to follow the directions, to quiet...