North Las Vegas veteran Gerald Mayes says psilocybin — hallucinogenic fungi also known as “magic mushrooms” — helped him with his post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.

"Magic mushrooms" may become available here in Nevada if a newly-proposed bill passes in the state legislature.

Depression may increase your risk of stroke and, if you have a stroke, it may slow your recovery. People who had symptoms of depression had a 46% greater chance of suffering a stroke than those who had no such symptoms, according to a study led by Robert Murphy, a PhD student at the University of Galway in Ireland, that was published today in the journal Neurology.

Nevada ranks 51st in access to mental healthcare in the U.S. Despite this grim statistic, Rochelle Hines, who holds a PhD in neuroscience — as does her partner Dustin Hines — sees promise in the state’s burgeoning institutions, such as the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Clark County Children’s Mental Health Consortium, and UNLV. “It’s just figuring out how we can better support these institutions and connect them even more with our communities… and also remove barriers to access,” Rochelle says. “If a patient really wants to try an innovative therapy, you have to look at the barriers that might be preventing them from being able to access that.”

Actor Chris Hemsworth announced that the results of a genetic test he took have revealed that he is at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease because he has two copies of the APOE4 gene.

In this episode, Joe interviews the Co-Founders of Tesselate Therapeutics: Dr. Rochelle Hines, Ph.D. (also the CEO and an Associate Professor at UNLV), and Dr. Dustin Hines, Ph.D. (the CSO as well as an Assistant Professor at UNLV).

For decades, mainstream culture has associated psychedelics with impairing the mind rather than improving it. But advocates, researchers and officials are starting to paint a different picture—that substances including magic mushrooms, mescaline, LSD and MDMA can actually help treat serious mental health issues.

Many people with depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) benefit from psychedelic drug treatments, clinical trials show. Psychedelic drugs affect thinking, emotion, and perception by binding to and activating the serotonin receptor.