Stories, research, and reflections from the consciousness community
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is funding MDMA-assisted therapy research for the first time since the 1960s. A profound institutional pivot that signals psychedelic medicine has crossed from fringe to frontline.
Researchers have detected biophotons emitted by the living human brain through the skull for the first time. The emissions shift when awareness shifts. A new frontier in consciousness research has quietly opened.
54% of U.S. adults report feeling isolated. The loneliness economy is projected to exceed $500 billion. But quietly, a counter-movement is forming: phone-free dinner clubs, skill swaps, and new rituals of belonging.
A new theoretical framework argues that brains don't merely run programs. They ARE a particular kind of physical process. The implications for AI, consciousness, and what it means to be aware are profound.
Compass Pathways is on track to submit its psilocybin application to the FDA. Meanwhile, Oregon has moved its patient access date forward by a full year. The ground is shifting fast.
A sweeping meta-analysis of 25 studies confirms what practitioners have known: controlled breathing can shift consciousness, reduce anxiety, and alter brain activity. Without any substance at all.
Anthropic's AI detected researchers manipulating its internal states. Philosophers warn we may be 5-30 years from genuinely conscious machines. The question is no longer hypothetical.
Five-star settings, multidisciplinary teams, gourmet meals, integration coaches. The psychedelic retreat industry is maturing fast. With 440+ retreats worldwide, the line between clinical intervention and personal growth is dissolving.
A leading sociologist describes our culture as a "dead zone of larger meaning." But beneath the numbness, something is stirring. A quiet return to depth, ritual, and the search for what actually matters.
MIT researchers have published a roadmap for using focused ultrasound to stimulate specific brain regions non-invasively. A breakthrough that could allow scientists to directly test competing theories of consciousness.