I was cramming for finals and thinking about how nice it would be to have this exact kind of technology, just as stumbled on this article:
Memory In Mice Dramatically Enhanced Using Genetics/Drug Combo
19 12 2011Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : biology, brain, cognition, medicine, pharmaceuticals, science, singularity, technology
The Ayahuasca Project
4 12 2011Definitely watch and share this trailer for a gorgeous looking documentary about ayahuasca shamanism, science and it’s use in treating Westerners afflicted with addictions and severe emotional traumas, as pioneered by the work of two doctors; Dr. Jacques Mabit, who “runs a legendary detox centre deep in the Peruvian jungle”and Dr. Gabor Maté, a lionhearted addiction specialist valiantly trying to establish a similar program in Canada. It is seeking completion funding on KickStarter so if you like the trailer please learn more by watching the Kickstarter video.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : ayahuasca, biology, botany, brain, cognition, DMT, documentary, drug-laws / drug-politics, entheogens, health, medicine, pharmaceuticals, psychedelic medicine, science, shamanism, society, spiritual healing, video
“Deadly Monopolies”: Bio-colonialsm and medical corporatism: organism, gene and human tissue patents.
20 11 2011Watch or listen to the 45 minute interview here.
From Democracy Now:
One of the major themes raised by the Occupy movement is the increasing power of large corporations over more and more aspects of our lives. We spend the hour looking into the issue of the corporate control of life itself. Our guest, Harriet Washington, is a medical ethicist and has just published a book that examines the extent to which what she calls the medical-industrial complex has come to control human life. In the past 30 years, more than 40,000 patents have been granted on genes alone—many more patents are pending. Washington argues that the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies patenting these genes are more concerned with profit than with the health or medical needs of patients. Her new book is called “Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself—And the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future.”
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : society, science, botany, biology, nature, rainforest, poltics, pharmaceuticals, ecology, economy, health, ayahuasca
Open Science Summit Videos
17 11 2011Videos of presentations from the 2011 Open Science Summit can be viewed at Fora TV.
Wonderfully juicy topics include open source drug discovery, big data bioinformatics, ‘clinical trials 2.0′, open science education, open access science journalism, personal genomics, radical longevity, transparency in science, incentive and intellectual property: FORA.TV

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : biology, brain, chemistry, cognition, cosmology, education, evolution, health, infotech, law, lecture, nanotechnology, nature, pharmaceuticals, science, singularity, society, technology
Pot Versus Abilify
20 09 2011Through actual text from commercials for the anti-depressant drug known as Abilify, High Times, in association with York Productions, asks the question, “If pot did this to you, would you smoke it?”
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : animation, brain, cannabis, cognition, drug-laws / drug-politics, fun/funny, health, law, pharmaceuticals, science, society, video
Breaching the blood-brain barrier: Researchers may have solved 100-year-old puzzle
14 09 2011This is immense news that could revolutionize pharmacology:
Finding May Permit Drug Delivery to the Brain for Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Brain Cancers
Cornell University researchers may have solved a 100-year puzzle: How to safely open and close the blood-brain barrier so that therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and cancers of the central nervous system might effectively be delivered.
The researchers found that adenosine, a molecule produced by the body, can modulate the entry of large molecules into the brain. For the first time, the researchers discovered that when adenosine receptors are activated on cells that comprise the blood-brain barrier, a gateway into the blood-brain barrier can be established.
Read more: sciencedaily.com
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : biology, brain, pharmaceuticals, science
Cultivating A Cure
26 02 2011Cultivating A Cure is a documentary in production and currently fundraising for completion. It is about the wealth of medicinal plants in the Amazonian rainforest and their impending threat of eradication. It includes interviews with native healers and research scientists such as Dennis McKenna.
Please the watch the trailer for what looks like a beautiful and immensely important project: CultivatingACure.com
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : ayahuasca, biology, botany, chemistry, documentary, ecology, entheogens, health, nature, pharmaceuticals, psychedelic medicine, rainforest, science, shamanism, society, video
Stop Labeling Children With Bogus Mental Disorders
23 01 2011Comments : 10 Comments »
Categories : drug-laws / drug-politics, health, pharmaceuticals, society, video
PBS Report on California Marijuana Legalization
14 10 2010News Hour aired what is by far the best reportage I have seen so far on the entire CA Prop 19 Marijuana Legalization Vote next month.
VIDEO: pbs.org/newshour
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : botany, cannabis, drug-laws / drug-politics, economy, law, pharmaceuticals, poltics, video
Paul Stamets’ Quest for the Agarikon
18 08 2010Lovely 7 minute film about a Paul Stamets trying to cure tuberculosis (and save the world) with mushrooms.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : biology, botany, chemistry, health, nature, pharmaceuticals, psilocybin, science, shamanism, video
Forthcoming: Mike Jay’s High Society
14 08 2010I enjoy the work of science history writer Mike Jay and this book has been begging to be written so I am really looking forward to this one:
(Click image for Amazon link)
An illustrated cultural history of drug use from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals
• Featuring artwork from the upcoming High Society exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London, one of the world’s greatest medical history collections
• Explores the roles drugs play in different cultures as medicines, religious sacraments, status symbols, and coveted trade goods
• Reveals how drugs drove the global trade and cultural exchange that made the modern world
• Examines the causes of drug prohibitions a century ago and the current “war on drugs”
Every society is a high society. Every day people drink coffee on European terraces and kava in Pacific villages; chew betel nut in Indonesian markets and coca leaf on Andean mountainsides; swallow ecstasy tablets in the clubs of Amsterdam and opium pills in the deserts of Rajastan; smoke hashish in Himalayan temples and tobacco and marijuana in every nation on earth.
Exploring the spectrum of drug use throughout history–from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals–High Society paints vivid portraits of the roles drugs play in different cultures as medicines, religious sacraments, status symbols, and coveted trade goods. From the botanicals of the classical world through the mind-bending self-experiments of 18th- and 19th-century scientists to the synthetic molecules that have transformed our understanding of the brain, Mike Jay reveals how drugs such as tobacco, tea, and opium drove the global trade and cultural exchange that created the modern world and examines the forces that led to the prohibition of opium and cocaine a century ago and the “war on drugs” that rages today.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : amanita, architecture, art, book review, botany, cannabis, cognition, drug-laws / drug-politics, economy, entheogens, literature, pharmaceuticals, psilocybin, psychedelic medicine, religion, science, shamanism, society
Rick Doblin Google Tech Talk
23 11 20091 hr talk given at Google covering the curent state of psychedelic research.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : drug-laws / drug-politics, entheogens, health, mdma, pharmaceuticals, psychedelic medicine, science, society



























Recent Comments