Nerdette: Tripping Hard For Science

Ecstasy
Could drugs like ecstasy or LSD help treat depression or PTSD? An investigator at the University of Chicago is testing the effects on volunteers. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency / Photo accessed via Wikimedia Commons
Ecstasy
Could drugs like ecstasy or LSD help treat depression or PTSD? An investigator at the University of Chicago is testing the effects on volunteers. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency / Photo accessed via Wikimedia Commons

Nerdette: Tripping Hard For Science

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Oh hey there! If you’re having Game of Thrones withdrawals, might we suggest a dose of Nerdette?

On this episode, we talk with a woman who administers drugs like LSD, Ecstasy and psilocybin to volunteers in an effort to learn more about the human nervous system.

Harriet de Wit, who runs the University of Chicago’s Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory , tells us how those trials go down, how these drugs might be used therapeutically  and what causes people to take drugs in the first place. 

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