Psychedelics and women’s mental health: the effects of female sex hormones on psychedelics’ efficacy and tolerability - Nature

Participants meditated inside an MRI tube, with and without psilocybin. For about a decade, the mainstream understanding has been that psychedelics cause chaos in the brain. Brain networks—the stable patterns of communication that handle vision, attention, or our sense of self, and more—loosen and start talking to each other all at once. EEG traces get noisier and more complex. “Think of the networks of the brain as highways,” says Devon Stoliker, a neuroscientist at Monash University. “Under psychedelics, these highways break down into many different directions.”

Live Science spoke with neuroscientist Argel Aguilar-Valles about recent research exploring psychedelics as a treatment for mild head trauma.

A reporting trip to a sauna conference in Oslo found NPR's Will Stone in a sauna with his clothes and recording gear. In this reporter's notebook, he explains how he investigates the science behind wellness claims. ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST: NPR's Will Stone reports on that line between proven medical treatments and alternative health practices. WILL STONE, BYLINE: If you're envisioning study subjects smoking weed and sipping free booze, then you have a pretty good picture of this experiment. NADWORNY: Weed versus alcohol, metabolic medicine and, yes, the science of sauna. STONE: It's basically a chance for the sauna world to nerd out. NADWORNY: In September, Will Stone traveled to Oslo, Norway, for the International Sauna Congress. STONE: You have scientists, business operators, advocates. They're all here for a few days to talk about everything from the health benefits to the finer points of sauna culture. NADWORNY: The program included party hopping and heat treatments in, quote, "floating sauna villages. " So for this week's Reporter's Notebook, I wanted to talk to Will about arguably the toughest assignment at NPR. I mean, come on. You got in a sauna in Oslo?