UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Pscyhedelics

The Microdose talked to neuropharmacologist Patricia Whitaker about the discovery of serotonin and how the neurotransmitter in many ways gave rise to the modern field of neuroscience. Subscribe to read the full Q&A 🍃https://themicrodose.substack.com/

Meet the newest addition to the BCSP, @ranajean.bsky.social! 🎉 Rana is our new Executive Director of Communications, a role that will guide the Center’s strategic communications and voice as it continues to advance psychedelic research for the public good. psychedelics.berkeley.edu/rana-freedma...

In March of this year, Jillian founded Ket-a-Grip, a 12-step program meeting specifically for people struggling with ketamine use. The Microdose talked to Jillian about her experiences with ketamine, and what Ket-a-Grip uniquely offers to its members. themicrodose.substack.com

The Microdose talked to aphantasia researcher and neuroscientist at the University of New South Wales, Joel Pearson, about the experience of aphantasia, and the potential consequences if psychedelics could actually switch on a film reel in the mind. themicrodose.substack.com

🚨CALLING ALL JOURNALISTS 🚨 Ten $10,000 reporting grants will be awarded to journalists reporting in-depth print and audio stories on the science, policy, business and culture of this new era of psychedelics.
fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/bcsp/

Episode 8 of the Altered States Podcast is out now! A new study explores whether psilocybin might help young adults with severe anorexia. Listen here: psychedelics.berkeley.edu/season-2-epi...

Elastic’s first issue challenges and reinvents psychedelic aesthetics This magazine delves deep into the phantasmagoria of dying – and along with it, creates meaningful collisions with the narrowness of psychedelic art.

@its-nice-that.bsky.social covered @elasticmag.bsky.social’s first issue about dying.

Elastic is a print magazine of psychedelic art and literature, and @hbrenhouse.bsky.social , the founder/editor is a fellow of our Psychedelics in Society and Culture program.

After Schedule I: Federal Psychedelic Rescheduling and the Impact on State Law

Our friends at the UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology are hosting an event on the legal ramifications of rescheduling psychedelics on Monday, November 17. Anyone is welcome to register🎉 @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bcl...

Reporter Adreanna Rodriguez gets invited to Texas to harvest peyote, a psychoactive cactus often caught in the crosshairs of the so-called psychedelic Renaissance. Listen to the full episode here:
psychedelics.berkeley.edu/season-2-epi...

The Microdose spoke with anthropologist Justine Quijada about animism, a broad category of beliefs and practices that assumes the “animation of all nature." Read the full Q&A in this week's newsletter. 🌿
themicrodose.substack.com/subscribe

What RFK Jr.’s Support for Psychedelic Therapy Means for Its Future | KQED Airdate: Thursday, November 5 at 9 AM This summer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he’d like to see psychedelic therapies for depression, trauma and other…

🎙️ON AIR:

We're talking to @scipsychedelics.bsky.social's Michael Silver and Marlena Robbins, and former chief scientific officer of Lykos Therapeutics, Berra Yazar-Klosinski, about the future of psychedelic research and therapy.

❓Have you tried or want to try psychedelic therapy?

📻 Listen:

“These medicines have their own consciousness” - Marlena Robbins on the indigenous perspective of psychedelics.

“There’s a lot of catching up to do” - Michael Silver on the gap in psychedelic research in the last several decades.

Happening now on @kqedforum.bsky.social. BCSP’s Michael Silver and Marlena Robbins discuss research on psychedelics as potential treatments for mental health disorders with @alexis-madrigal.bsky.social rigal.bsky.social. Listen at www.kqed.org/forum

Episode 7 of the Altered States Podcast is up now! What can twitching mice reveal about the human brain? Find the full episode here: psychedelics.berkeley.edu/season-2-epi...

🎥✨ DEADLINE EXTENDED! Apply for The Mycoskie–UC Berkeley Psychedelic Documentary Fellowship by November 7th at 11:59pm PT.
fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/mycoskie/app...

🎥 ONE WEEK LEFT!
The Mycoskie–UC Berkeley Psychedelic Documentary Fellowship supports filmmakers exploring the evolving world of psychedelics — from science and policy to culture and consciousness. Grants range from $5-20K.

Deadline: Oct. 30

👉 fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/mycoskie/

Episode 5 of the Altered States Podcast is up now! How did a psychedelic religion founded to promote peace end up spreading right-wing political propaganda?
Listen here: psychedelics.berkeley.edu/season-2-epi...

Mónica Álvarez Franco and Tatiana García recently returned from their first film shoot in the mountain communities outside Oaxaca where they working on a documentary called “Voices from the Earth.”

Read the full Q&A in today's Microdose Newsletter
themicrodose.substack.com/subscribe

Our podcast, Altered States, won a prestigious Signal award!

Take a listen to Season 2 out now!

🚨 Calling documentary filmmakers! 🚨

The Mycoskie–UC Berkeley Psychedelic Doc Fellowship is now accepting applications.

Awards ranging from $5k to $20k. Deadline: Oct 30

Apply here → fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/mycoskie/

Will you be at hashtag#PS2025? Make sure to check out these three panels facilitated by core members of the BCSP team.

You can also read more about each session on the BCSP website! lnkd.in/ewt4gA4m

This Is Your Priest on Drugs Dozens of religious leaders experienced magic mushrooms in a university study. Many are now evangelists for psychedelics.

My latest: This Is Your Priest on Drugs | The New Yorker www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

We're growing! The BCSP is hiring an Executive Director of Communications to shape our voice and lead communications efforts. If you're a visionary communicator ready to make a difference, we want to hear from you! #CommunicationsJobs #StrategicComms #PsychedelicScience

Gül Dölan, a senior science advisor at the BCSP, was recently featured in an episode of NPR's All Things Considered podcast 🎧 The episode discusses an effort to begin clinical trials for Ibogaine, a psychoactive drug that is said to treat PTSD. www.npr.org/2025/05/07/n...

Cluster headaches are ‘the most painful condition on the planet’. Sufferers are going to extreme – and secretive – measures for relief The condition is more excruciating than childbirth or gunshot wounds, but little understood. An online community of ‘clusterheads’ are self-experimenting with psilocybin – with promising results

Some sufferers of cluster headaches are turning to psilocybin to treat their debilitating pain — with promising results. Check out this piece published in
@theguardian.com
by Psychedelic Journalism Ferriss Fellow Sammie Seamon
www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...

Cluster headaches are ‘the most painful condition on the planet’. Sufferers are going to extreme – and secretive – measures for relief The condition is more excruciating than childbirth or gunshot wounds, but little understood. An online community of ‘clusterheads’ are self-experimenting with psilocybin – with promising results

Some with cluster headaches are self treating with psilocybin and scientists are taking note. Don't miss this longform story from @berkeleyjournalism.bsky.social x @scipsychedelics.bsky.social Psychedelic Journalism Ferriss Fellow Sammie Seamon www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...

Meet the 2025 recipients of the Mycoskie-UC Berkeley Social Media Fellowship! These fellows will play an important role in expanding public discourse on psychedelic science, policy developments, business, and culture.
lnkd.in/gs6nAgww

Vote for the best of the internet I just voted in The Webby People's Voice Awards and checked my voter registration.

The Altered States podcast has been nominated for a Webby Award in the podcast science & education category. If you haven't yet, please vote for us for a people’s choice award! wbby.co/3XA54Pp

📩 Join me at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social on April 12th

🗣️ I'll discuss the #psilocybin movement through history into the modern epoch, clinically significant studies, 🆕 research on psilocybin analogues, #microdosing & paradigm shift in the ecology of #consciousness

🎟️ Tickets: bit.ly/CalStamets