A Trip-Switch for Depression?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Could magic mushrooms be the key to a revolution in treating depression? Professor David Nutt, director of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research, thinks so. He tells Vic Gill about recent research suggesting that psilocybin - the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms - triggers rewiring of the brain in people with treatment-resistant depression. Vic Gill speaks with trial participant Steve Shorney who was diagnosed with depression 30 years ago. Nanobodies. That's the name scientists have given to the tiny antibodies found in the blood of camelids like llamas, alpacas and camels. Reporter Samara Linton heads to Berkshire to meet the llamas whose nanobodies were recently found to neutralise the Covid-19 virus. We hear from Professor Gary Stephens, University of Reading, who is responsible for the llamas' safety and well-being, and Professor James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute which is carrying out the pioneering research with engineered nanobodies. And just as the James Webb Space Telescope is poised to peer deep into the universe, we look at a recent image captured by its great predecessor, Hubble, which has thrown down a telescopic gauntlet. Astronomer Dr Emma Chapman, author of the book “First Light” guides us through these incredible pictures of the furthest, faintest, most ancient of stars yet seen. Presented by Victoria Gill Reporter: Samara Linton Producer: Alex Mansfield

Transcript

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0:34.7	Hello, you lovely curious minded people. This is the podcast edition of BBC Inside Science,
0:40.2	originally broadcast on the 14th of April 2022. I'm Victoria Gill. This week, we're bringing
0:46.5	you an extraordinary immunological insight that connects COVID-19, snake bites and llama
0:52.5	blood. And just as the James Webb Space Telescope is poised to peer deep into the universe,
0:59.3	we take a look at a recent image captured by its great predecessor, Hubble, which has
1:03.8	thrown down a telescopic gauntlet. But first, could magic mushrooms be the key ingredient
1:10.6	in a revolution in the treatment of depression? That is what scientists who've been carrying
1:15.9	out a clinical trial with psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms,
1:21.1	say that their latest findings suggest. A study with about 60 participants, or with what's
1:26.2	called treatment resistance depression, revealed that the hallucinogenic drug triggered a
1:30.6	kind of rewiring in the brain. Scans following the treatment showed more connectivity between
1:36.4	different brain regions. The researchers say this shows a depressed brain breaking out
1:41.6	of a rut of negative thinking that psilocybin makes it more fluid, flexible and connected.
1:47.9	I find this a bizarre and fascinating idea to wrap my own brain around. So I was delighted
	...

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