Steve Dent, writing for Engadget:
Japan's TeamLab has created some of the most trippy, interactive and Instagram-able digital art installations ever. It's only fitting, then, that the group is getting its own digital museum in Tokyo, thanks to developer Mori and Epson. The Mori Building Digital Art Museum has 100,000 square feet of exhibition space, with around 50 installations that generate imagery thanks to 520 computers, 470 projectors and numerous motion sensors.
This place looks amazing.
Mendel Kaelen, a post-doctoral neuroscientist at Imperial College London who specializes in the function of music in psychedelic therapy, has created a series of psychedelic music playlists that can be used for therapeutic purposes:
The music playlists I release publicly are either short mixtapes or full playlists created for therapeutic work. The easiest way to stay updated on new music is by following me on twitter or spotify.
If you are a therapist interested in using this music in psychedelic therapy, please be aware that music-selection is only one component of the therapeutic work with music (preparation, guidance & integration). I am available to consult on this.
I am so glad that I stumbled upon Kaelen's incredible playlists. A recent experience with the Psilocybin I playlist—which was originally created for a 2016 psilocybin depression study—showed me just how skilled he is at creating the perfect soundscape for an entheogenic voyage.
As a lover of all things music and psychedelic, I was elated to discover that there is someone out there who specializes in creating marvelous playlists for psychedelic therapy and research studies. I highly recommend that you check out his work.
According to José Antonio Capa, head of the anti-trafficking police unit, sect leader Félix Steven Manrique considered himself an envoy of God and called himself "Prince of Gurdjeff."
He managed to groom Aguilar and other women through a Facebook group he set up, painting himself as a messiah on a mission to repopulate the world and one who would save his followers from the apocalypse.
In fact Manrique ran a harem of women who submitted to him. He forced them to have sex and consume Ayahuasca, an indigenous drink that causes hallucinations and anxiety attacks.
Absolutely horrific. This is the first time I've heard about an ayahuasca doomsday sect having been formed, but it's reminiscent of the murderous cult Charles Manson led in the 60s. However, instead of brainwashing his followers with "sex, LSD, Bible readings, repeated playing of the Beatles’ White Album and rambling lectures about triggering a revolution," Capa used Facebook to find his followers and held them captive by raving about the impending apocalypse and drugging them with ayahuasca.
Csilla Ágoston, Róbert Urbán, Mara J. Richman & Zsolt Demetrovics, writing for Science Trends:
According to our results, one of the most important aspects of caffeine use disorder is suffering from the symptoms, which was the most capable in discriminating people with lower and higher level of caffeine use disorder, and it was also the third most severe criterion. The two most severe symptoms were failure to fulfill obligations (e. g. work, school or home responsibilities) and social/interpersonal problems because of caffeine consumption; these symptoms mostly occurred on the higher end of caffeine use disorder continuum. This means that although caffeine consumption is a socially acceptable habit, caffeine use can interfere with social or occupational functioning for some individuals.
In contrast, the significant amount of time spent with consuming or obtaining caffeine was the least discriminating criterion, which means that the probability of a positive response at lower levels is nearly the same as it is at higher levels. This low level of discriminative value can be the consequence of the high and legal availability of caffeine compared to other substances. The presence of consumption of more caffeine or longer than intended and craving were likely even in case of lower levels of CUD, therefore, these are considered to be less severe symptoms and do not indicate problematic caffeine consumption. Tolerance (which means that the user have to consume more caffeine to reach the same effect or the same dosage cannot induce the same effect anymore), unsuccessful quitting attempts, caffeine use despite negative consequences and attempts to avoid withdrawal symptoms were moderately severe symptoms and had moderate discriminative values.
For many years I've noticed that most people drastically misunderstand their beloved daily stimulant and rush to downplay its negative effects, so it's great to see that caffeine's abuse potential is being studied now.
Tom Angell, writing for Marijuana Moment:
The heads of Caribbean nations have agreed to “review marijuana’s current status with a view to reclassification,” noting “human and religious rights” issues stemming from criminalization as well as “the economic benefits to be derived” from legalization.
Another base hit for the cannabis team—people everywhere are finally starting to listen to those of us that have been advocating for the reform of marijuana laws for generations.
