Little things, like taking a shortcut through the park on your way to work each day can make a big difference

to your mental health. Find your little big thing

little big thing at every mind matters. I remember when I first applied to the NIH for this, you know, my program officer was

like, no, nobody will ever give psychedelics as a therapy you're barking up the

wrong tree you should be studying you know why these things are bad for the

brain this is back in 2014 when Johns Hopkins

neuroscientist Gool Dolin was trying to get funding to study

whether psychedelic drugs might be master keys for reopening critical

periods in the brain.

I was like, no, I think this is a great idea and if we're right about it, we're going to win

the Nobel Prize.

I want to get credit for having this idea right now.

I will not thank my grant to accommodate your view.

And so I was very stubborn and I didn't get the grant

and I didn't get many, many other ones after that.

For science quickly, I'm science journalist and author Rachel Newer.

You're listening to part three of a three-part series on the science of

psychedelics. If Gull was submitting the same Grant application today, she'd probably have a much stronger shot at getting it.

There's definitely been a sea change in terms of the attitude towards funding

psychedelics.

As funding opportunities for psychedelic science increase, researchers are beginning to put serious thought into mind-bending

studies that previously would have seemed like fantasy.

...