First steps as #psychedelics (DMT) and #consciousness researcher. Chief of Psychedelic and Consciousness Research Group on @SWPSUniversity
Neuropsychology 🧠 🍄
🧵 Endogenous DMT: What Do We Really Know?
Two recent papers shed new light on endogenous DMT, its biosynthesis, regulation, and function:
📄 Exploring DMT: Endogenous Role and Therapeutic Potential – by @psychedmt
📄 N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Rodent Brain: Concentrations, Distribution, and Recent Pharmacological Data – by Steven Barker
This thread summarizes key findings.
These studies challenge the idea that DMT exists in only trace amounts and has no biological role.
Let’s dive in. ⬇️🧵
CPCR Director @FredBarrettPhD quoted in @AP “It’s been incredibly difficult to study ibogaine in the U.S. because of its known cardiotoxicity... If the executive order can pave the way for doing objective, scientific research with this compound, it would help us understand whether it is truly a better psychedelic therapy than others.” https://t.co/rwBlMuJiX7
Is forgetting the secret to intelligence? An epic roundtable with Michael Levin, Karl Friston, Mark Solms, Richard Watson, and Alexey Tolchinsky break down why selective forgetting is absolutely essential for cognition, agency, and building a coherent sense of self.
A fascinating deep dive into the mechanics of the mind! https://t.co/zmDsc5Sutm
#CognitiveScience #Neuroscience #PhilosophyOfMind #Psychology #MichaelLevin #KarlFriston @drmichaellevin @alexeytolchinsky @Mark_Solms@RichardWatson90@tolchinsky.bsky.social
An international mega-analysis of psychedelic drug effects on brain circuit function
lots of great researchers involved in this paper.
(whole article)
https://t.co/vKhH0duJqv
Adult brains operate near a “critical point” of balanced excitation/inhibition, enabling more coordinated rhythms and greater efficiency.
Brain criticality emerges with developmental shifts in frequency-specific excitation-inhibition balance
https://t.co/LcaRQCll0W
#neuroscience
New discovery! Different anesthetics all seem to push the brain into unconsciousness in the same way: Activity is destabilized and dominated by slow waves. This could block signals.
https://t.co/bUPlOMWM3K
#neuroscience@MIT_Picower@mitbrainandcog@mcgovernmit@ScienceMIT
Emerging evidence shows higher cognition relies on rhythmic electric fields—acting like "radio waves"—to enable large-scale organization, executive control, and energy-efficient analog computing. Catch Professor Earl K Miller’s Presidential Special Lecture at Neuroscience 2025 https://t.co/1Yn643l4KT @MillerLabMIT
#Neuroscience #Bioelectricity #CognitiveScience #AnalogComputing #SfN25
I read this recently: https://t.co/uHMlSzFV0J It says 2A blocker studies often "over-dose the blocker" and thus lose specificity to 2A. Could this apply here? https://t.co/mr1DiR52Rp
Ecodelia and the lost art of lichenthropy - On becoming fungus on acid and on being publicly ridiculed by grass on Salvia
My latest Substack exploring the psychedelic experiences leading folk to connect & communicate with, or transform into other species
https://t.co/7f4YC1Up8S
Interested in cortical wave dynamics?
Check out our review on the physics, physiology, and psychology of cortical waves led by J Cruddas with @jchrispang
Out now in @NeuroCellPress
https://t.co/2xxP6hYjaJ
There's some wisdom here, perhaps. Absolute outcomes like response and remission may well be better post-approval. On this front, it's almost as if Compass stacked the deck against efficacy so as to "play the game" well. That's a clear contrast vs the Lycos story. It's a good point to end on.
Same point here. I think this is the main takeaway. To say it simply: on face value, Compass are still on track for approval, having played the game well.
Time to de-anthropomorphize the mind. New research proposes a unified framework viewing cognition as a biological spectrum—from single cells to complex mammals. Intelligence isn't just neural; it's embodied life-regulation and information processing found across all living systems. 🧠🦠 https://t.co/TSiYuy4jwu #DiverseIntelligence
#BasalCognition #Biology #CognitiveScience #PhilosophyOfMind #BiologicalIntelligence #AI
Traveling waves. Your brain has them. There must be a reason.
Cortical traveling waves in time and space: Physics, physiology, and psychology
https://t.co/qzye84X1HO
#neuroscience
Is your whole body conscious?
“Biological systems need a cognitive, adaptive information-processing system long before you have neurons named brains.”
“Every intelligence is collective intelligence.”
Episode with the awesome @AnnaCiaunica is live ⬇️