Drugs

This is what your brain on drugs really looks like

Scientists this week published a study that reveals what the human brain looks like under the influence of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms. The study has turned a few heads, and raised some interesting questions. What does the human brain look like during a mushroom trip? Come to think of it, what…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 25

Viagra Perks Up Penises Plant Stems

We know Viagra is good at keeping human penises erect. And shouldn’t that be enough? Not for one horticultural expert who claims the drug does the same for cut flowers. David Domoney, a TV personality in the United Kingdom and decorated plant expert says that crushed into the water of cut stems, the chemicals in…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Jan 19

10 Scientific and Technological Visionaries Who Experimented With Drugs

Is intelligence related to an increased likelihood of recreational drug use? It’s an interesting hypothesis, and one that’s been gaining momentum in recent years. If a definitive link between intellectual capacity and drug use does exist, it will likely be some time before anyone establishes one. Having said that, this much is for certain: history…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 16

Nicotine patches won’t help you quit, but they might save your brains

People attempting the arduous task of quitting smoking often turn to “nicotine replacement therapies” like patches and gum. These help with the physical aspect of withdrawal and the whole “quitting the actual smoking” part. Well, that’s the theory anyway. According to a new study published in the journal Tobacco Control, these nicotine replacement therapies don’t…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jan 13

Smoking joints not so bad for your lungs, after all

Score another victory for the tokers in the audience. A study into the long-term effects of marijuana smoking on lung function has shown that it’s not nearly as bad as many have assumed. Despite having many of the same constituents as tobacco smoke, the long-term effects of marijuana smoking on breathing is poorly understood, which…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jan 12

The Pill That Could Cure Depression by Growing Your Brain

If you are depressed, or schizophrenic or have Alzheimer’s, scientists say you probably have a shrunken hippocampus. The good news: a drug that just entered human trials promises to re-grow that part of the brain. It’s an entirely new approach to treating clinical depression, which is the first of several diseases scientists at biotech company…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Jan 9

Can This Facebook Page Convince You Not to Take Drugs?

The Israel Anti-Drug Authority thought that the new Facebook profile timeline would be a perfect way to convince people not to take drugs, using it to show a life with and without drugs. It’s clever and cute. I’m just not convinced that this would be more effective than other drugs campaigns, though. But if they…

Social Media Jesus Diaz Jan 5

Why don’t we normally hallucinate?

If you’ve ever seen strange geometric patterns while on drugs, you might have wondered what on Earth caused you to see these hallucinations. What mechanism is behind this weird effect? But a new study asks a different, equally reasonable question — not “Why do hallucinations occur?”, but “Why don’t they occur all the time?” Top…

io9 Sophie Bushwick Dec 30

10 Happy Accidents from the Annals of Drug Discovery

The pharmaceutical industry spends untold millions of dollars trying to discover the next wonder drug. The potential profits from a breakthrough drug can be counted in the billions of dollars — and a great new medication can improve the lives of countless people. But sometimes the greatest breakthroughs in drug development come from the weirdest…

io9 Keith Veronese Dec 28

The Incredible Hulk arrested for selling cocaine in England

A man painted green like the Hulk and sporting “fancy dress” was arrested last spring for selling drugs outside of a nightclub in Coventry, England. Explains The Coventry Telegraph of the Hulk’s run-in with the police: [The Hulk] was drunk and trying to sell cocaine he did not want outside the Skydome in the city…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar Dec 26

Model Tries to Smuggle Cocaine Inside Fake Breast and Butt Implants

Rome’s airport police have caught a busty model trying to smuggle 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of cocaine inside her fake breast and buttocks’ implants. The 33-year-old model was arriving from Sao Paulo wearing tight clothes when the police stopped her from questioning at the immigration control. Police officers found the fake implants stuffed with cocaine…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Dec 22

Cocaine Levels Found In the Air Connected to Crime Levels and Cancer

Scientists can now accurately detect drugs floating in the air. They also have found statistical relationships between atmospheric cocaine levels and certain types of cancers, as well as a connection between marijuana levels and mental disorders. Are illegal drugs really floating in the air? Yes. Researchers have been able to find illegal drugs in the…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Dec 19

“Bath Salts” act like Ecstasy in our brains

The last few years have seen the appearance of a number of drugs sold under the false flag of “bath salts” or “plant food”. Generally mephedrone and methylone, their abuse has lead to a number of hospitalizations in the last year. And that’s led to increased pressure to understand how they work, and just how…

io9 Tim Barribeau Dec 15

A Miracle Drug Keeps This 70-Year-Old Cancer Patient Running Marathons

Don Wright was diagnosed with myeloma—cancer in his blood cells and bone marrow—two weeks after running his first marathon. His doctor gave him a five-year survival estimate. Eight years later he has run 60 26.2-mile races in 41 states and takes just one pill per day to keep his cancer at bay. “I feel wonderful,”…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Dec 14

Super Chill Gifties for Your Stoner Uncle

Hey, don’t judge, it’s for his back injury! He’s totally got a prescription. It’s legal in, like, a bunch of states. The health effects are basically unknown because the medical industrial complex doesn’t want you to know that it’s medicine. Free, wonderful medicine from nature. And besides. Get him a good gift and he’s totally…

Tech News Mat Honan Dec 8

Three Sleazy Moves Pharmaceutical Companies Use to Extend Patents

When pharmaceutical companies get a patent on a new molecule, they have 20 years to recoup the cost of developing a drug out of it. Two decades sounds like a long time, but clinical trials eat several of those years, leaving only a handful of years to earn back the money spent bringing the drug…

io9 Keith Veronese Dec 6

Well, Breaking Bad happened in real life

If Breaking Bad’s central conceit — that a harried high school chemistry teacher and his former student team up to enter the lucrative world of methamphetamine production — seems too outlandish to you, here’s a strange case that demonstrates just how life can mirror art. The Boston Globe reports that 74-year-old university mathematics professor Irina…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Dec 4

Participate in the largest drug-use survey ever conducted

Drugs play a huge role in our lives, but it’s hard to find in-depth research on how people take them and what effect it has on their lives. Here’s your chance to help change that. For the last several years Britain’s Mixmag — a popular dance music magazine — has been gathering international data on…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 25

10 of the Most Dangerous Chemicals in the World

It’s our chemical all-star team of death. We’ve got historic poisons that have claimed the lives of millions in a sinister manner, along with a couple of chemicals that might be in your home. Contact with any of these, in the right dose, will send you running for a hastily scribbled bucket list. Before we…

io9 Keith Veronese Nov 23

Tired of Coffee? This Tea has Cocaine!

Yesterday’s article got you down on coffee? Looking for another daily stimulant? Coca leaf tea, or mate de coca to the locals, has been used in many South American countries for millenia and is more prevalent in the region than coffee. https://gizmodo.com/10-reasons-coffee-is-both-the-best-and-the-worst-bevera-5861402 The tea provides an effect similar to coffee, but instead of caffeine, it…

io9 Keith Veronese Nov 22

This is what your brain on drugs really looks like

Viagra Perks Up Penises Plant Stems

10 Scientific and Technological Visionaries Who Experimented With Drugs

Nicotine patches won’t help you quit, but they might save your brains

Smoking joints not so bad for your lungs, after all

The Pill That Could Cure Depression by Growing Your Brain

Can This Facebook Page Convince You Not to Take Drugs?

Why don’t we normally hallucinate?

10 Happy Accidents from the Annals of Drug Discovery

The Incredible Hulk arrested for selling cocaine in England

Model Tries to Smuggle Cocaine Inside Fake Breast and Butt Implants

Cocaine Levels Found In the Air Connected to Crime Levels and Cancer

“Bath Salts” act like Ecstasy in our brains

A Miracle Drug Keeps This 70-Year-Old Cancer Patient Running Marathons

Super Chill Gifties for Your Stoner Uncle

Three Sleazy Moves Pharmaceutical Companies Use to Extend Patents

Well, Breaking Bad happened in real life

Participate in the largest drug-use survey ever conducted

10 of the Most Dangerous Chemicals in the World

Tired of Coffee? This Tea has Cocaine!

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