• rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works
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    46 minutes ago

    they found no close matches to genes associated with psilocybin or ibotenic acid, two well-known mushroom hallucinogens

    None that we already know about, not the same as none

  • SunshineJogger@feddit.org
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    2 hours ago

    No matter what it is, it is fascinating in its own right that it has such a specific visual effect on users.

    Maybe this mushroom was very common once and is the source for folk tales of all sorts.

    I mean there are truly a lot of old stories involving tiny people.

  • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Maybe it’s not a hallucination at all. Maybe the mushroom is actually an anti-hallucinogen. It suppresses the hallucinations that normally prevent us from seeing the tiny people.

  • rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz
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    12 hours ago

    Clickbait headline, the primary object of that study was to figure out phylogeny of these mushrooms. finding no known genes associated with known hallucinogens is a bonus and pretty useless info because the compound responsible for this activity is not known, how do you know how it’s made then

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
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    15 hours ago

    “Biosynthetic gene mining of the L. asiatica genome found no close hits with any genes known in the production of mushroom psychoactive compounds,” write the researchers in their published paper.

    “This supports our hypothesis of the presence of a novel unidentified metabolite responsible for the unique hallucinogenic properties of L. asiatica.”

    Yeah. No known hallucinogens.

    • DougPiranha42@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Exactly. Or even- no known hallucinogens synthesized by their canonical biochemical pathways by enzymes expressed from the host species genome.
      The OG hallucinogen, ergot, is ingested by eating wheat. If one presumed that the substance is made by wheat, and mined the wheat genome, they would never find the genes for its synthesis, because the hallucinogen is made by mold growing on the wheat.
      It’s very rare you can draw a strong conclusion from negative results.

      • boydster@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        Rye is the most common place ergot grows, which is another common bread grain. I am not disagreeing with your post, and ergot can grow on wheat too, just pointing out that rye is a much more common source of egot contamination.

        • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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          3 hours ago

          I dont really know these things but i always just assumed rye (and barely) was just a kind of wilder less domesticated wheat.

    • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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      2 hours ago

      It doesn’t need to be, there is reasonable proof that humans and other mammals naturally synthesises (trace amounts off) dmt, which are presumed to be used and broken down incredibly quickly. We still don’t know why, what its used for or have hard proof where its produced (pineal gland is main suspect for having all ingredients in theory)

      In theory something could trigger an effect that stops it from breaking down or produce it at a faster rate, therefore triggering psychedelics effects with out the consumed substance containing anything psychedelic itself.

      Dmt is known for seeing (machine) elves, does not sound that far away from seeing mini people.

  • gnufuu@lemmy.ca
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    15 hours ago

    Lanmaoa asiatica

    My sincerest apologies. I know the way out.

  • GreyShuck@feddit.uk
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    15 hours ago

    Regardless of the actual metabolite responsible, this does raise the question of whether, if any other species consume them and are susceptible, they see tiny versions of their own species?

    • magnue@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I always wonder if the cows get high. On the right day it’s like daisies in summer and they’re just munching grass all day.

      • Donkter@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        The psylocibin mushroom specifically grows on cow shit so some of them have to be getting dosed at some point.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        15 hours ago

        Monkeys seem like a good place to start. Similar enough to us to see if it’s unique to humans, small enough to not start ripping someone’s face off if it goes badly.

          • DougPiranha42@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            Mackaques love touchscreens, amd can be trained to do complex tasks on tablets placed in their enclosures.
            You make a test where they need to press a button when and only when they see tiny monkeys that you can project on a screen or on their floor.
            Then you give the drug at various concentrations and placebo, and see if there is a dose dependent increase in the monkeys indicaions of mini monkeys.
            Then you can repeat the experiment after treatment with antipsychotic, if it prevents the mini monkey reporting, you already have a hint at the mechanism.
            Any nonhuman primate lab can do this from 1-2 million dollars, should we start a go fund me?

          • Danarchy@lemmy.nz
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            11 hours ago

            Get one of them sign language moneys and see if they start asking for tiny bananas

          • AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml
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            13 hours ago

            Can’t you just ask them? Like train them to show what they are seeing by pointing to one of multiple pictures.

          • Gerudo@lemmy.zip
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            13 hours ago

            I think you could watch pupil response, body temp, sweating, brain scans, etc and get a good idea.

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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    15 hours ago

    Awkward? Unexpected results are the building blocks of science!

    We learned a new question to be answered.