It’s boomtime for corporate psychedelia.

In the past few weeks, biotech startup MindMed secured $259m to fund its development pipeline, and competitors atai Life Sciences and Beckley Psytech merged to form AtaiBeckley.

Despite the hype around the benefits of psychedelics for mental health treatment, political economist Dr Sandy Brian Hager warns the “shroom boom” may be heading for a bust.

His study suggests investors could be spooked once more, because:

- Difficult to patent: Psychedelics cannot easily be patented, which turns off investors

- Unpredictable effects: Trips are subjective and can last up to 15 hours, complicating laboratory testing.

Pharma startups are responding by developing new classes of drugs:

- “Neuroplastogens”: All the warm and fuzzy feelings of connection without the hallucinations

- Ultra-short, intense trips: Newer compounds that cause very intense trips lasting only minutes, “at the time scale of a dental cleaning”.

For all the talk of a mental health revolution, psychedelics may deliver little more than business as usual, says Dr Hager. 

A multidisciplinary team develops a method based on Artificial Intelligence that determines with great precision the provenance of prehistoric archaeological materials

Bribery and money laundering are far more common among the public than many assume, with millions of people in the UK approached to take part in these activities in the past year, according to a new report co-authored by a researcher from the University of Surrey on behalf of the International Society of Economic Criminology (ISEC). 

New report involving hundreds of literary creatives across the UK fiction publishing industry reveals widespread fears over copyright violation, lost income, and the future of the art form, as AI tools and LLM-authored books flood the market.

Young people who play video games with “gambling-like” elements – such as buying loot boxes or in-game items – are more likely to go on to gamble with real money.

An international team of researchers, including scholars from HSE University, has analysed how the number of non-academic staff affects a university’s performance. The study found that the outcome depends on the institution’s profile: in research universities, the share of administrative and support staff has no effect on efficiency, whereas in teaching-oriented universities, there is a positive correlation. The findings have been published in Applied Economics.

A new survey by Morning Consult and the nonprofit Physicians Committee finds that 65% of adults support establishing a special program that would allow migrant farmworkers to remain in the U.S. to help with food production. This is especially relevant at this time of harvest and feasting, since many foods commonly served during the holidays, such as sweet potatoes, pecans, pumpkins, and cranberries, require many workers, as well as machinery, to grow and harvest. About half of farmers say they don’t have the labor they need, according to the Kansas Reflector.