Nature Communications
March 23, 2026
Haixiu Li, Yuwei Sun, Wenliang Xu et al.
1 citation
The synthesis of salvinorin A by Salvia divinorum is of considerable interest for developing pain relief, anti-opioid addiction and antidepressant medications, but progress has been compromised by limited access to plant material and the complexity of the biosynthetic pathway. Initially using S. splendens, a closely related species, the first steps in the biosynthetic pathway have been...
Neuroscience
March 23, 2026
Eliza Jacobs-Brichford, Rachel M. Donka, Amy W. Lasek et al.
Maturation of inhibitory signaling during critical period development depends on neural activity driven by experience. Parvalbumin positive (PV+) interneurons, the dominant type of inhibitory interneuron in prefrontal cortex (PFC), undergo critical period development during adolescence. Their maturation is supported by perineuronal nets (PNNs), lattice-like extracellular matrix structures that...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 23, 2026
Marco Taddei-Tardón, Lidia Medina-Rodríguez, Jessica L Maltman et al.
preprint
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics have attracted considerable interest as promising therapeutic agents. However, the molecular mechanisms linking their acute hallucinogenic-like effects to longer-lasting neuroplastic responses remain incompletely understood, partly because of the scarcity of native neural models suitable for mechanistic studies. Here, we developed a neural stem cell-derived in...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
March 21, 2026
Charles S. Thomas
preprint
Current empirical approaches to consciousness rely on measures of integration, responsiveness, and reportability, all of which track relatively late-stage phenomena. This paper introduces a minimal operational criterion for detecting an earlier event: the first sustained instance of recursive closure in neural dynamics. We argue that recursion functions as a constraint-satisfying mechanism...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
March 20, 2026
Ana Zivanovic, Milos Mitic, Iva Lukic et al.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric illness for which rapid-acting antidepressants such as ketamine provide only transient benefit. Because κ-opioid receptor (KOR) signaling contributes to stress-related dysphoria and impaired neuroplasticity, we examined whether KOR antagonism could prolong ketamine’s antidepressant-like effects in a mouse model of adolescent...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 20, 2026
Marina A. M. Portes, Leandro J Bertoglio
Psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are psychedelic compounds with therapeutic potential for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. However, their relevance to endurance athletes, who face particular psychological and physical stressors, remains underexplored. This study combines a conceptual overview...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
March 20, 2026
Ivan Anchesi, Ivana Raffaele, M. Astorino et al.
The clinical renaissance of psychedelic medicine has highlighted the therapeutic potential of rapid-acting neuroplastogens, or "psychoplastogens," for psychiatric disorders. However, the widespread application of classical psychedelics-such as psilocybin and LSD-and the atypical dissociative ibogaine is severely limited by their hallucinogenic properties and, particularly in the case of...
March 19, 2026
Jingyu Wu
1 citation
Current debates surrounding concepts such as “basal cognition,” “minimal cognition,” “plant intelligence,” and “consciousness” are deeply mired in terminological demarcation and phenomenological description, with each side entrenched in its own position and consensus elusive. This paper proposes a meta-theoretical framework based on the “Sentient Principle,” shifting the focus of cognitive...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
March 19, 2026
Agordi Paul Oluwatosin
preprint
This paper presents a philosophical and systematic examination of the question, “Can computers think?” It begins by looking at the different meanings of the concept of thinking, positing that the answer to the question depends on how such a concept is conceived. On the one hand, this paper argues that if thinking is understood as problem solving, information processing, and intelligent...
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
March 19, 2026
J. Browning, Zed Adams
Mazviita Chirimuuta has written a timely book that reinvigorates a classic argument against mechanical minds: biological naturalism, the view that consciousness and general intelligence depend upon life. A central commitment of this book is a kind of Kantian humility about the prospects for our knowledge of the brain: it holds that because there is a fundamental difference in kind between...