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THE (IMPROVED) ELECTRIC
KOOL-AID ACID TEST?

Thursday, October 20, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we gain a new perspective on psychedelics, identify a deadly new strain of monkeypox that risks going global, fight further damage to Easter Island’s iconic statues … and discover how ancient Egyptians packed for Judgment Day.

A gloved hand holds a mushroom surrounded by light smoke

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALANA PATERSON, THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX

Forget about Day-Glo visions, tie-dyed streams of consciousness, unpredictable side effects.

Researchers are developing new psychedelics for mental-health treatment that seek to avoid the defining nature of an earlier psychedelic dose—the mind-altering trip. Companies and writers such as Ayelet Waldman and Michael Pollan have promoted micro-dosing to ease depression, anxiety, or PTSD—but what do we know about these new and emerging chemical compounds?

Read the full story here.

Please consider getting our digital report and magazine by subscribing here.

A photo of microscopic mushroom spores

PHOTOGRAPH BY TED KINSMAN, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Mushrooms and more: At top, a lab worker harvests mushrooms from the genus Psylocibe. Above, a color-enhanced scanning electron microscope image of mushroom spores. When ingested, this fungus causes euphoria, hallucinations, and altered perception of time. Read more.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

A woman with monkeypox marks on her face holds a child on her hip

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

Monkeypox variant surging in Central Africa is 10 times deadlier than the global strain. Will it go global? (Pictured above, Blandine Bosaku, 18, got antibiotic treatment after losing a daughter to monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo.)

Has science solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries?

Why Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are poised to take over in the U.S.

Tracking the 5,000 treasures in Tut’s tomb Related: A new museum fit for a pharaoh

How elusive cancers outmaneuver the body’s defenses

The werewolf that horrified Europe

Ötzi the Iceman: What we’ve learned since his body was discovered

Circles of hell: Inside the world of Dante’s Inferno

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Large heads carved out of volcanic rock sit on a hillside

PHOTOGRAPH BY SUSAN SEUBERT

The fire started underground: Easter Island’s largest known moai statue, named “El Gigante,” weighs 200 metric tons and is 69 feet tall. Earlier this month, a fire “irreparably damaged” hundreds of the statues (pictured above in Rano Raraku quarry)—and strong rains may exacerbate the damage. Nat Geo has compiled what all we know about the solemn, enigmatic moai.

EASTER ISLAND'S STATUES

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A picture of a spotted hyena yawning

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES, @CHAMILTONJAMES

Another thing to avoid: the powerful mouth of a spotted hyena. The hyena above, photographed by Nat Geo Explorer Charlie Hamilton James, has a jaw capable of crushing thick bones in order to suck the marrow within. (The calcium from ingested bones is why their poop is often white.) Instead of using bursts of speed like other predators on Kenya’s Masai Mara, hyenas use stamina to outlast prey.

Related: A mind-controlling parasite found in humans increases risky behaviors in hyena cubs

LAST GLIMPSE

Portraits of two mummies

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SMITH ARCHIVE/ALAMY

What do you put in a tomb? Royals and commoners in ancient Egypt were consumed with the afterlife. Pictured above are Yuya (left) and Tuya (right), two ancestors of King Tut. Found in 1905 in the Valley of the Kings, the two are among Egypt’s best-preserved mummies. What shared their tomb? Chairs, beds, a wig, and 52 jars of embalming material, Nat Geo reports.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Readers, what do you want with you in the afterlife? A souvenir from your favorite team? A TV remote? Let us know at [email protected]. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here.

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Sydney Combs, Jen Tse, and Heather Kim.

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