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Daily briefing: The future of psychedelics
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Not just for humans: gene therapy to extend longevity is under investigation for dogs, too.Credit: Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/Getty
Longevity researchers are exploring ways to extend the lives of pets, spurred by the boom in human-lifespan research. Most efforts currently focus on improving animal diets, and some researchers are exploring the potential of repurposing drugs that have been approved for humans for use in their furry friends. Other groups are starting from scratch to develop animal-specific treatments, including drugs and gene therapies, to treat conditions that range from muscle wasting in cats to heart conditions in dogs.
“It’s hard to express just how happy the scientific community and the Brazilian society is with Lula’s victory,” says physicist Paulo Artaxo of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election. Many researchers had worried that if right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro won, he might slash funding for and undermine Brazilian science, as his father had during his own tenure as Brazil’s president. Lula has pledged to continue his previous support for science, but his challenge will be “to transform his scientific policies into lasting progress”, says engineer Francilene Garcia.
Jumping spiders (Portia fimbriata) seem to experience something akin to rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep — and might even dream. Researchers found that P. fimbriata go through periods of inactivity at night and that they’re slower to respond to noises during that time. The arachnids’ eyes also move quickly and their legs twitch at different points of the night, which points to an REM-esque slumber. The findings suggest that the spiders’ brains are sophisticated enough to require a sleep state, researchers say.
Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper
A newly discovered amphibian species called Gerrothorax maritimus was about 74 centimetres long and had a flattened, armoured body.Credit: Ryosuke Motani
This flattened fossil is Gerrothorax maritimus, a newly described amphibian species that lived around 237 million years ago. Two G. maritimus fossils were discovered in what is now Guizhou province in China — far from any landmass that existed at that time — which hints that some amphibians were able to live in the sea back in the day. The excellent preservation of the pair’s skeletons suggests that these fossils were not swept to their resting place by water. (Nature | 4 min read) (Ryosuke Motani)
After a regulatory setback in 2024, some pharma companies are betting big on psychedelic drugs for the treatment of mental-health conditions. Clinical-trial results have shown that such drugs can have benefits for conditions from anxiety to substance-use and eating disorders. Other research is focused on tweaking psychedelic compounds to make them more viable for the clinic. Still, researchers must not assume this momentum will last, says psychedelics researcher Philippe Lucas — roadblocks such as the US government’s ‘war on drugs’ have stalled the field before, and could do so again, he says.