🧬 The Distilled Download - July 19

Greetings, fellow science nerds! 🤓 Here’s your latest installment of The Distilled Download.

A few weeks ago I gave an hour-long masterclass to a large group of health influencers on “Using AI to streamline your content creation process,” including a sneak preview of a software package I’ve been working on that does some really detailed analytics of people’s social media accounts, figuring out what nuanced factors lead to a video doing well or poorly. Here’s the resource document of AI tools that I put together for the talk, and I’m thinking of spinning off a separate channel/newsletter talking about the overlap between technology, science, and content creation–there’s a signup form on that page if you’re interested!

And now.

The Download

🍄 Lasting Brain Effects of Magic Mushrooms
Psilocybin, the “magical” ingredient in magic mushrooms, works by acting on serotonin systems in the brain, encouraging the formation of certain new connections while disrupting others. In a study published this week in Nature, researchers gave participants either psilocybin or Ritalin and did 18 detailed fMRI scans of their brains over the course of the next 3 weeks. They found an initial major drop in synchronicity in the brain’s "default mode network,” typically most active when the brain is in a state of “wakeful rest,” sometimes daydreaming, not engaged in any particular task. But while this drop faded over time, they saw a lasting decrease in synchronicity between the default mode network and the anterior hippocampus — a structure linked to memory and emotion — lasting at least three weeks. This desynchronization may be what lets 🍄 be such an effective treatment for depression, cutting off the negative self-reflection loop and allowing for new connections to form.

From a very practical perspective, they also found that when they had participants focus on a mental task during their experience, the level of desynchronization that occurred went down, which could be why most of the therapeutic effects of 🍄 are seen when people spend the trip internally focused, with their eyes closed, rather than dwelling on the visual experience.

🦾 Gym Hack That’s… Delicious?
When I was a kid I had an INSANE sweet tooth. I was known for stuffing my pockets with candy whenever I got free access, then walking around for the next week slowly nursing my stash. But maybe I was just looking to get swole and boost my lifts?

This study had people rinse their mouth out with a sugary drink–and then spit it out–before doing a Romanian deadlift (with mineral water as the placebo). The sugar rinse group had increased peak power and total work from their exercise, possibly due to a combination of increased glucose utilization and some increased feel-good hormone production. The effect wasn’t massive, but it’s definitely a fun hack to experiment with!

🍨 Kitchen Gadget I’m Having Tons of Fun With 
I may be late to the party, but I finally broke down and got a Ninja CREAMi, the device that lets you turn anything into delicious ice cream, sorbet, slushi, or similar frozen delight. Combining high-protein milk, protein powder, and some combination of mint, sugar-free chocolate chips, cocoa powder, or other mixins, I’ve basically been turning my midday protein shakes into delicious desserts. I even ran my 30-ingredient smoothie through it and it turned into a pretty tasty sorbet! Most folks love it for how you can get amazing protein-to-calorie macros with delicious taste (e.g. 300 cal - 40g protein), but I’m more of a hard-gainer, so I go full fat 🙂 

☕ Essay That Made Me Think
I’ve been reading essays by Paul Graham ever since his book Hackers and Painters was required reading for a course I took back in college. His writing is always a consistent example of clear thinking, taking concepts we all have vague, intuitive understandings of and crystallizing them into actionable, bite-sized packets. This latest piece on the difference between stubbornness, persistence, and obstinacy is a very short read and well worth it.

Recent Video Highlight

Instagram vs TikTok – I asked you guys to rate two jokes and give your self-analysis of how on-point your sense of humor is. I analyzed hundreds of responses across both platforms and found some interesting differences!

Thanks for reading! I love to hear feedback, so feel free to respond to this email or tag me on Twitter or Threads (which I’ll start using seriously one of these days 🙊).