Just saw someone talking about how they are using AI to help them write a novel. They were strident about writing EVERY word themselves. Only using AI for "brainstorming, structure and research". So they aren't really writing then because the process actually encompasses all those things.

After months of stasis the TGA finally published its updates to Australia's regulations for psychedelic medicine. Mostly minor and incremental. Biggest change is allowing one person without medical credentials into the therapy dyad. This opens up the system to counselors, social workers and others.

Not sure why I'm still watching For All Mankind. I certainly rarely enjoy it anymore. Each episode feels like wading through poorly executed melodramatic sludge. Yet here I am. Still going. Waiting for it to end.

Another day another psychedelic science and medicine news article written by a business journalist repeating all the same talking points pushed by commercial interests and parroted in 1000 other stories from the past decade. The meta-narrative for psychedelics is undefeated.

Just saw an ad from a mushroom supplement company telling me to "follow the science". A major figure in the psychedelic scene said "they" are lying to us and there is science to prove it. A link leads me to a press release. It's linked to a weak study that in no way supports what is being claimed.

More reason to activate that proton mail address.

Chopra has also sidled his way into the psychedelic renaissance becoming a frequent presence in therapy training programs.

Our resistance to death is so much of our problem right now. Tech bros are working on life extension, but the precious scarcity of life is what makes it beautiful. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YluQ...

The scale of the corruption is hard to fathom. Investing in weapons manufacturers while the US government increases defense spending? The lesson here is: commit one act of corruption and you're in trouble but commit 100s and the impact is so diffused no one cares anymore.

This post has been going around Twitter and I think it homes in on a great point but is blind to the foundational problem. That 'jab of adrenaline' twitter gives you is the algorithm playing you like a fiddle, poking you for maximum engagement. The quietness of Bluesky is a feature not a bug.

New interview with Adam Curtis. Needless to say, it's good.

Not sure this is the win for Trump that it's being painted to be. Massie may have lost but he got a whopping 45% of the vote. That's in the face of $30 million dollars and a wild smear campaign. So nearly half of the Republican voters in Kentucky loudly renounced Trump.

Oh well, we're all cooked aren't we. And I don't mean 'we' as in journalists or publishers. I mean we as in humans with the ability to evaluate the veracity of a source of information. AI just tells us and we say thank you.

Really fascinating work looking at the benefits of social media in helping young people find supportive networks that ultimately work to prevent self harm.

A double page spread highlighting AI generated memes shitting on the Labor government's recent tax reforms. News hey...

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a new drug that doesn't exist – super meth!

A great take on the new UC Berkeley psychedelic survey. General public support for psychedelics may be growing but it potentially locking in to a highly medicalised lane. Those playing the long 'trojan horse' game thinking medicalisation leads to legalisation may be in for a rude shock.

this is already a big outbreak and much more concerning than hantavirus at this point. hopefully it can be contained because the CDC has already dropped the ball on hantavirus, this could be much worse

Many single study stories reach audiences thanks to a jazzy university press release that is mostly just recapitulated by people who should know better and do better. It was once frustrating. Now it's a legitimate threat to the survival of the profession. open.substack.com/pub/nobreakt...

Lots of interesting data in this newly published psilocybin for depression study. But the two most striking things to me are the lack of placebo response and the lack of durability. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Hantavirus outbreak should reset WHO’s default approach to airborne risk [BMJ commentary] www.bmj.com/content/393/...

A much cited meta-analysis arguing the benefits of Chatgpt on student learning has been retracted by Nature. The editor's note here is vague, simply citing "discrepancies" but early critiques of the paper cited mistakes, typos and interpretation errors.

This article on hantavirus is mostly on point. We're stuck in this binary of either arguing there's nothing to worry about or screaming panic. The truth is in the middle. We are making the same mistakes we made with covid.

FYI. There's another 'supplement prevents Alzheimer’s' story going around. This one is about arginine. Not mentioned anywhere is the dose used in the study is massive. Equivalent to nearly 1g per kg, more than double any human dose. So don't run out and grab some arginine just yet.

Stretching the definition of headline.

Compass races to the finish line. Latest investor release expects psilocybin approval by the end of the year. Also notes 7,300 treatment centres in the US already flagged for delivery. They're likely jumping on the back of current ketamine clinics. This could scale fast.

If this latest Australian budget is "the most ambitious in decades" then that's a damning indictment of what we consider progressive reform in 2026. Cutting disability support, increasing defence spending and grandfathering negative gearing tax breaks for millions. Ambitious stuff...

New from 404 Media: spoke to four people who attended a trade show where senior ICE officials spoke about how much Palantir is supercharging their arrests. List of 20 million people on ICE agents phones now; increased chance of successful arrest from 28 to 80% www.404media.co/ice-agents-h...

Are we seriously doing this again? This article presents an 8 year old idea as if it were a new discovery and literally claims it is the science behind why acupuncture works. Note: acupuncture doesn't work beyond placebo.

Press release journalism at its worst.

I'm not gonna say you have to read this article. It's deeply upsetting, and perhaps too much for some. I will however post it on the same day we saw the very rare instance of an Israeli soldier sent to jail for a war crime: sentenced to 21 days for desecrating a Christian statue.

Paperback £6 this month from Yale, same deal on Psychonauts and Free Radicals yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

hantavirus probably isn't pandemic material at this point (that could change), but it doesn't bode well for our disease preparedness @salon.com www.salon.com/2026/05/11/h...

Can't believe after this Lamestream report pointing out the absurdity of a recent ABC story, all that was changed was adding "including sick leave" to the headline.

A climate change apocalypse on the horizon. AI decimating the job market. Home ownership permanently out of reach. But sure, tell me again how it's social media that's responsible for the epidemic of anxiety and depression in our youngest generation.

Probably the most consequential legal case to date testing Colorado's decrim laws. Sharing mushrooms is legal but what about charging for "harm reduction and support" services, after which certain substances are then freely given? Is this a clever loophole or a responsible way to manage access?

3 episodes in and Widow's Bay is easily my favourite show of the year so far. Comedy and horror are two genres that don't mix well. Usually the final product sacrifices one to serve the other. This show pulls off a miracle. It's hilarious, weird and genuinely scary.

Movie discourse in 2026 is boring. Can't believe the loudest take on The Odyssey trailer is 'can you believe Nolan used American accents!'. Anyone remember Last Temptation of Christ? Fucking Judas was Keitel doing a New York accent. A better take on the trailer is simply, boy does this look dull.

I remember 7 or 8 years ago having conversations with an editor about whether psilocybin was a recognizable enough term for headlines. Back then we leaned on 'psychedelic' & 'magic mushrooms' but it seems clear psilocybin is way more known today. Yet I still see so many magic mushroom headlines

In case you needed a laugh today... “But the rich whom the politicians are targeting, starting with nothing, are the epitome of the American dream,” he continued. “They are at the top of the great American economic pyramid for a reason. They should be praised and thanked.”

Amusing characterisation of ecstasy in a mainstream Australian news article from mid-1986. The writer suggests it unlikely this becomes a party drug and quotes someone saying it's more for people "into the consciousness game".

Everything you need to know about mass culture in 2026: A Michael Jackson biopic makes a billion dollars. Louis CK has a special on Netflix. Johnny Depp stars in a big budget Scrooge Christmas movie. Members of the US government make money by betting on when wars will start and stop.

TIL MIA is pro-trump, anti-vax and designed a whole clothing line to protect from 5G waves entering your body.

Both *can* be true but they aren't in this case! The text of "The Body Keeps The Score" is fundamentally unscientific and reactionary. If you've taken something good from it I'm happy for you, but that's despite the message of the book, not because of it.

The absolute fucking absurdity of 2026 where multi millionaire economists pull outdated levers to try and tame inflation while crying "we are all feeling poor". It's disgusting and millions of Australians will be pushed to the brink while some rich ppl simply shave a day off their Noosa holiday.

Finally read the Dawkins AI thing and it's as dumb as I expected. Who would've guessed the guy who thinks human beings are the sum of their 'genetic programming' would view an LLM as an equivalent consciousness.

Page is now live on publisher site so this is getting real, it's got an ISBN and everything! Here is the final cover design and I love it! unsw.press/books/trip-r...

Ah yes – who can resist curling up with a copy of WURDER IN PARID?

New paper by Bruno Moses, Enzo Tagliazucchi, & me in which we critique the Entropic Brain Hypothesis & neural entropy metrics regarding what they can tell us about psychedelic fx. Lots of technical and theoretical points, but I'd like to highlight a few. 1/10 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Alongside all the op-eds citing what else $25 billion could cover in terms of government funding don't forget, this number is profit dollars paid to private companies that build and sell military munitions. The war is enriching people with interests in these companies.