MDMA Shows New Promise for Trauma, but the Drug Alone Is Not a Cure
The illegal substance—paired with intensive therapy and hard work—dramatically improves PTSD symptoms
12 May 2021
Tag: Science
Psilocybin Therapy May Work as Well as Common Antidepressant
For the first time, a randomized controlled trial shows the psychedelic offers potent, if short-term, relief in comparison with an SSRI
15 April 2021
Healed… by fungi?
Mushrooms are waiting for their moment in medicine
8 April 2021
The Second-Generation COVID Vaccines Are Coming
After Pfizer and Moderna, a slew of other candidates could fill gaps in efficacy, production or distribution
20 January 2021
Psilocybin Treatment for Mental Health Gets Legal Framework
Oregon became the first state to legalize therapeutic use of the drug as new research affirms its benefits for treating depression
1 December 2020
Lab-Made ‘Miniproteins’ Could Block the Coronavirus from Infecting Cells
Synthetic peptides that mimic human antibodies for COVID-19 could be cheaper and easier to produce
12 October 2020
How COVID-19 Can Damage The Brain
Some scientists suspect that Covid-19 causes respiratory failure and death not through damage to the lungs, but the brain – and other symptoms include headaches, strokes and seizures.
23 June 2020
The life-saving medicines inspired by animals
The latest technology allows us to look for potential medicines in the natural world without collecting or harming a single animal – all you need is their DNA.
8 May 2020
Why the Arctic is smouldering
We know the Arctic is melting – but it’s also on fire. And these wildfires could transform the pace, and scope, of global warming in ways that could affect us all.
27 August 2019
Psilocybin Could Open the Door to Legal Hallucinogens
Researchers are hoping the decriminalization vote in Denver could usher in a new era of therapeutic and recreational use
28 May 2019
Is Kambo Really the Next Wellness Trend?
Devotees say the gooey secretion scraped off a frog’s back can cure everything from acne to cancer. Could there be something to the hype?
8 May 2019
The loudest voice in the animal kingdom
Uncovering the remarkable and mysterious audio world of dolphins and whales.
5 November 2018
It’s not a load of crap: turn your urine and faeces into treasure
Don’t wait for astronauts to show us how to recycle bodily waste into useful products. Here’s how you can extract value from your own liquid assets now
25 August 2017
Being Constantly Aroused is a Living Hell
Complaints are invariably greeted with laughter, not compassion.
16 June 2017
The Creepy, Insane, and Undeniably Romantic World of Cryonics
I went into it a skeptic—and I still don’t think it’ll work. And yet I’m sold.
26 April 2017
What are three-parent babies?
The first baby conceived using a controversial technique has been born in Mexico, but how does it work and are we at the dawn of the GM babies?
27 September 2016
Is Pornography Warping Our Brains?
In a highly connected and mobile world, it's easy to get hold of porn, but is it a harmless way to spice up your love life, or something more sinister?
1 April 2016
The Power of Music for Health
The more we learn about the power of music, the more medical applications we discover for it.
8 January 2016
Banning laughing gas is a serious matter. The balloon protest treats it as a joke.
The proposed ban on nitrous oxide is irrational and unworkable, and requires serious challenge, not an inane demo in Parliament Square
31 July 2015
The Search for a Women’s Condom Alternative That Could Prevent HIV
“The possibility of having a ring that contains a microbicide and a contraceptive, in the same device? Now that would very attractive.”
23 July 2015
Could ecstasy be a potential treatment for PTSD?
The first clinical trial in Canada is under way to test whether the party drug could be part of a treatment for those with PTSD
13 July 2015
Let’s Get It On: The race for the world’s best condom
It’s hugely unpopular, worn by an estimated 5% of men around the world: can 11 design mavericks, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, reinvent the condom for a sexier, safer world?
13 June 2015
A History of the Ice Pick Lobotomy
It was decreed “the worst idea on the mind” in history in a public debate at the Royal Institution in 2006. Yet it seemed like such a good idea at the time—so good, it won its devisor the Nobel Prize.
12 June 2015
Your Baby Knows Music Better Than Most Adults
Each and every one of us is born with perfect pitch
24 April 2015
Animals Like to Get High in the Wild, Too
Humans aren’t the only ones who turn to drugs for a little bit of escape. In my new book on the science of hedonism, the quest by animals to get high is documented.
20 April 2015
On The Anniversary of the First Acid Trip, What Do We Now Know About LSD?
But one high is so famous it has a birthday: Bicycle Day, April 19, 1943. The world’s first acid trip.
19 April 2015
No link found between psychedelics and psychosis
In large US survey, users of LSD and similar drugs were no more likely to have mental-health conditions than other respondents.
4 March 2015
Get drunk without a hangover on synthetic booze
Professor David Nutt has developed two new drugs that could do away with liver damage and alcohol-induced shame
22 January 2015
How to see your music
Why settle for your standard music visualiser on your computer when you can create a three-dimensional one simply by filling an old speaker with baking soda?
14 January 2015
The good vibrations helping the deaf experience music
A slew of new music-listening devices for the deaf are on offer.
30 November 2014