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Maci Philitas is deep underwater. Diving in the inky abyss, she finds a brown treasure chest. She opens it. Inside are four framed photographs. Philitas and her husband laughing, listening to her brother giving a toast at their wedding. Her parents and in-laws getting married. And a family photo: Philitas, her husband and their two young sons. She holds the photos, feeling suspended in time. She leaves them inside the chest, far beneath the water, for safekeeping. In reality, Philitas was lying on a couch with a face mask covering her eyes in a pale blue room at the NYU Langone Health Center for Psychedelic Medicine in Manhattan. (Kadvany, 8/18)

This fall, the University of Colorado Denver's Center for Psychedelic Research will launch the nation's first state-approved program in psychedelic therapy. Once facilitators become licensed through the program, they will be able to administer psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic, or "magic," mushrooms. It is the first such program offered by a university that leads to a legal practice in the country. The program opens in the midst of a remarkable shift in the cultural, legal, and medical perception of psychedelics. (Nielsen, 8/18)

Wyoming law enforcement agencies will be better able to respond to mental health crises in their communities thanks to a $2.4 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust. The funding supports the Virtual Crisis Care program, which connects officers in the field with licensed mental health professionals for immediate help for people in crisis. (Schlump, 8/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: The National Suicide Hotline For LGBTQ+ Youth Went Dead. States Are Scrambling To Help

On July 17, the option went dead for LGBTQ+ youth to access specialized mental health support from the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said a month earlier that it would no longer “silo” services and would instead “focus on serving all help seekers.” That meant the elimination of the “Press 3” option, the dedicated line answered by staff specifically trained to handle LGBTQ+ youth facing mental health issues ranging from anxiety to thoughts of suicide. (Sciacca, 8/19)

A drug dealer dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” has agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including that she provided the drug that ultimately led actor Matthew Perry to suffer a fatal overdose in October 2023, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Jasveen Sangha, 42, also admitted in her plea agreement to selling four vials of ketamine to Cody McLaury in August 2019. McLaury, 33, died hours later in his Los Angeles home from a drug overdose that included ketamine. (Winton, 8/18)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Guns, Race, And Profit: The Pain Of America’s Other Epidemic 

Less than a mile from a century-old mill that sustained generations in this small town north of New Orleans, 19-year-old Tajdryn Forbes was shot to death near his mother’s house. She found Forbes face down in the street in August 2023, two weeks before he had planned to move away from the empty storefronts, boarded-up houses, and poverty that make this one of the most troubled places in the nation. (Clasen-Kelly and Rayasam, 8/19)

A protein found in our cells could act as an early warning sign for aggressive cancers—and a new target for drugs to stop them spreading. This is the discovery of scientists from Brunel University of London, who have shown for the first time that a protein that helps a cell prepare to divide can also trigger metastasis. (Millington, 8/18)

Action must be taken to curb the use of plastic additives linked to plummeting sperm counts, a leading reproductive scientist has warned, as splits over chemical regulation contributed to the collapse of a crucial treaty on plastic pollution. Across the world, sperm counts have been declining at a rate of about 1% a year for the past 50 years, and human fertility has been diminishing at a similar rate, studies have shown. (Gayle, 8/19)

Dreamed that you forgot to wear pants? Or you lost your job? It might have something to do with what you ate before bed. New research from Canadian scientists suggests that certain foods, namely dairy products, are associated with nightmares. The culprit? Gastrointestinal distress brought on after ingesting foods like cheese right before bedtime. (Woodward, 8/18)

In tech classes, seniors are learning about AI-generated images and the risks of AI scams and deepfakes — and finding their own uses for bots like ChatGPT. (Wu, 8/19)