Neuroscientists developed a trans cranial magnetic helmet that when focused on the right part of the brain, induces religious visions typical of those described by Catholic saints. Suggests that some religious visionaries may have had brain damage or a brain parasite.
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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I think more likely that they had techniques and a way of life that caused this part of the brain to fire. Typically, visionary saints lived lives of extreme deprivation and constant meditative states, which probably led to a very specific kind of brain chemistry.
Whoa, I'd really like to try that.
This is not yet established science. See, eg, https://www.bioedonline.org/news/nature-news-archive/electrical-brainstorms-busted-source-ghosts/
Did you read that?
*Susan Blackmore, a psychologist based in Bristol, UK, is also reluctant to give up on the theory just yet. She has firsthand experience of Persinger's methods. "When I went to Persinger's lab and underwent his procedures I had the most extraordinary experiences I've ever had," she says. "I'll be surprised if it turns out to be a placebo effect."
She too thinks that the Swedish researchers may have used magnetic fields that varied subtly from those of Persinger. "But double-blind experiments will ultimately give us the final answer," she says.*
Persinger's work was reproduced in 2014.
Tinoca, Carlos A; Ortiz, João PL (2014). "Magnetic stimulation of the temporal cortex: a partial "God helmet" replication study". Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research. 5 (3): 234–257.
The only "controversy" was a single Swedish group who did not follow the same protocol (why?) then claimed it was not reproducible. Persinger's work triggered a lot of religious people. He died in 2018. His central theory is that humans evolved a part of brain to deal with their own mortality when they evolved a certain level of intelligence.
You mean the only attempt to recreate it failed. Only one group has shown these results. The results are not universally accepted, and indeed are contested by a second group. That is not established science, it's still a subject of considerable research. You certainly can't walk into a commercial clinic and order a religious experience like I'm certain you could if this were nailed down.
Fucking experts hogging the good exotic shi
...I wouldn't mind exploring a fairy tale as long as it wasn't one of those old old fairy tales that end my death.
Yeah, that would be a Grimm fate...
My life is a kid's TV show, but the author is german.
There's a taqueria that recently opened near me that has what appears to be a massive taco. They call it a Kika. None of my friends understand why I keep calling them a German Mexican Restaurant.
☝🏼 My immediate thought.
Anecdotally I've encountered little Elfs, gnomes, and dwarfs while smoking DMT many times over. One of the great mysteries of my life, I spend an inordinate amount of time pondering these experiences.
I'm extremely curious to try these mushrooms one day. Doesn't appear to be illegal to cultivate them but at the same time I'm not seeing any evidence that there is any widespread effort to either. If we're lucky this article has got the wheels spinning in quite a few heads and at least one of them will figure out how to bring this mushroom into the Western world. The way psilocybin mushroom cultivation has proliferated here, I gotta think it's not a huge jump from that to cultivating Lanmaoa asiatica.
I love the local lore tho, "if you don't cook your foraged mushrooms thoroughly you will be visited by the little people." Food safety is rarely that fun
What's the psychoactive chemical?
Chemical and genomic analyses performed on Lanmaoa asiatica at the Natural History Museum of Utah have revealed no traces of any known psychoactive compounds, suggesting that something entirely new is waiting to be discovered.
That's cool means that its not illegal
...yet 🫠
In the UK it would be. Anything psychoactive is illegal, except for an exemption list including things like alcohol, caffeine and theobromine.
No need for mushrooms, one can easily (and legally, at least for the time being) open a book ;)
Perfection
you've never done shrooms to make the comparison and have an educated opinion on the matter. I've done both, and can perfectly see valid reason for either without moral grandstanding that one is a better alternative to the other.
What about morel grandstanding?
Hehehe
Dude, that was merely a pun (sorry, not sure about the english word here: a wink at the printed version of those 'fairy tales' that have been legally shared through books for centuries). But whatever you say, have fun with your 'shrooms'.
Depends on which definition of "fairy" the book is about.
There is quite a lot of choice & variety.
To only mention a handful of public domain classics: Grimm's Fairy Tales are an obvious choice (think Sbnow White, Cincerella, Hansel & Gretel and so, so many more (quite hardcore to be honest), Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Barry's Peter Pan or even things like Ovid's Metamorphosis (hard to beat, imho, even if many won't like it being categorized as a fairy tale and would prefer 'mythology'). Talking mythology, one coudl also consider reading some Norse mythology (the 'Edda', and sagas), and so on.
In the USA at least, the term "fairy" has long been used by some as derogatory slang for highly feminine-acting homosexual males (although I've seen the occasional use by such people themselves, which I assume is a bit like black people calling each other the "N-word" - I support both groups, but am a part of neither so I could be wrong in my interpretation on that aspect).
Considering virtually every group that aren't proud white "Christians" (a misnomer if ever there was one) are under extreme attack by the current US administration, I was implying a book about "fairies" might conceivably be about gay people and therefore "illegal" with all the book banning that has unfortunately been going on here.
Thx for the clarification, very much appreciated.
Sbnow White, Cincerella
Step away from the drugs, citizen.