Ever wonder how LSD works? An answer has been discovered.

UNC School of Medicine researchers identified the amino acid responsible for the trip.

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  • Researchers at UNC's School of Medicine have discovered the protein responsible for LSD's psychedelic effects.
  • A single amino acid—part of the protein, Gαq—activates the mind-bending experience.
  • The researchers hope this identification helps shape depression treatment.
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Scientists uncover the brain circuitry that causes mysterious dissociative experiences

A team of researchers have discovered the brain rhythmic activity that can split us from reality.

Credit: Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
  • Researchers have identified the key rhythmic brain activity that triggers a bizarre experience called dissociation in which people can feel detached from their identity and environment.
  • This phenomena is experienced by about 2 percent to 10 percent of the population. Nearly 3 out of 4 individuals who have experienced a traumatic event will slip into a dissociative state either during the event or sometime after.
  • The findings implicate a specific protein in a certain set of cells as key to the feeling of dissociation, and it could lead to better-targeted therapies for conditions in which dissociation can occur.
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Measuring brain waves during sleep could lead to better depression treatments

A team at the University of Basel discovered a connection between antidepressants and REM sleep.

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  • Researchers at the University of Basel measured the efficacy of antidepressants by measuring brain waves during REM sleep.
  • Antidepressants take weeks to begin working, and over 50 percent of users don't find success with the first prescription.
  • This research could offer a powerful new diagnostic tool for psychiatrists and doctors.
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The art of asking the right questions

What exactly does "questions are the new answers" mean?

  • Traditionally, intelligence has been viewed as having all the answers. When it comes to being innovative and forward-thinking, it turns out that being able to ask the right questions is an equally valuable skill.
  • The difference between the right and wrong questions is not simply in the level of difficulty. In this video, geobiologist Hope Jahren, journalist Warren Berger, experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, and investor Tim Ferriss discuss the power of creativity and the merit in asking naive and even "dumb" questions.
  • "Very often the dumb question that is sitting right there that no one seems to be asking is the smartest question you can ask," Ferriss says, adding that "not only is it the smartest, most incisive, but if you want to ask it and you're reasonably smart, I guarantee you there are other people who want to ask it but are just embarrassed to do so."
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The world’s largest space camera’s first test subject? Broccoli.

Construction is nearly complete for a camera that will take 3,200-megapixel panoramas of the southern night sky.

Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
  • The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is about to get the world's biggest camera for astronomy.
  • The images the camera takes contain billions of pixels.
  • It can capture objects 100 million times fainter than the human eye can see.
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