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Altered States

PRX

Psychedelics are now at the center of a global conversation about mental health, mysticism, and even how we experience illness and death. In Altered States, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores how people are taking these drugs, who has access to them, how they're regulated, who stands to profit, and what these substances might offer us as individuals and as a society.

Co-produced by PRX and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, Altered States is an award-winning podcast, taking home a 2025 Signal Award for Science and the 2026 Webby Award for Science and Education. To learn more, visit us our website.

UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics

Psychedelics are now at the center of a global conversation about mental health, mysticism, and even how we experience illness and death. In Altered States, host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores how people are taking these drugs, who has access to them, how they're regulated, who stands to profit, and what these substances might offer us as individuals and as a society.

Co-produced by PRX and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, Altered States is an award-winning podcast, taking home a 2025 Signal Award for Science and the 2026 Webby Award for Science and Education. To learn more, visit us our website.

UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics
13hr 31min
Thumbnail for "Was it DMT? Or was it heaven?".
An investigation into near-death experiences
October 8, 202533min 30sec40.17 MB
Thumbnail for "Sex, Psychedelics and Consent (Pt. 2)".
While reporting in Utah we started to hear stories of misconduct
December 3, 202527min 42sec33.21 MB
Thumbnail for "Psychedelic Church vs. State of Utah (Pt. 1)".
The legal tribulations of Provo’s newest mushroom church
December 3, 202541min 37sec49.9 MB
Thumbnail for "Psychedelics for Anorexia?".
New research on notoriously hard to treat eating disorders
November 19, 202541min 30sec49.76 MB
Thumbnail for "In Texas’s Peyote Gardens".
A Lakota journalist investigates efforts to save a disappearing cactus
November 12, 202547min 10sec56.55 MB
Thumbnail for "Mice on Magic Mushrooms".
What can twitching mice reveal about the human brain?
November 5, 202524min 43sec29.64 MB
Thumbnail for "UPDATE: A Navy SEAL Goes to Mexico to take Ibogaine".
A story of traumatic brain injury and a 24-hour trip.
October 29, 202545min 19sec54.34 MB
Thumbnail for "Was Ayahuasca Used for Political Indoctrination in Brazil?".
How did a psychedelic religion founded to promote peace end up spreading right-wing political propaganda?
October 22, 202539min 44sec47.64 MB
Thumbnail for "An Ayahuasca Message".
On the road with Indigenous leaders from the Amazon
October 15, 202523min 29sec28.16 MB
Thumbnail for "The Psychedelic Playlist".
What music should accompany a trip?
October 1, 202547min 6sec56.47 MB
Thumbnail for "A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Muslim Leader Get High".
What happens when religious clergy take magic mushrooms?
September 24, 202552min 23sec62.81 MB
Thumbnail for "Coming Soon: Altered States Season 2".
Psychedelic science, religion, and everything in between.
September 17, 20253min 18sec3.96 MB
Thumbnail for "A Navy SEAL Goes to Mexico to take Ibogaine".
A story of traumatic brain injury and a 24-hour trip.
October 23, 202444min 20sec63.75 MB
Thumbnail for "The Peyote Plan".
A big saga, a small cactus.
October 16, 202425min 43sec36.98 MB
Thumbnail for " What if Ketamine is More Addictive Than We Thought?".
A cautionary tale of k-holes, pharmaceuticals, party drugs and friends
October 9, 202442min 5sec60.51 MB
Thumbnail for "Psychedelics on the Ballot".
Will voters pass state ballot measures to legalize psychedelics like they did for cannabis?
October 2, 202425min 31sec36.69 MB
Thumbnail for "A Former War Correspondent Unravels".
What happens when a New York Times reporter takes ayahuasca in the Amazon?
September 25, 202448min69.02 MB
Thumbnail for "Show Update".
September 11, 202435sec840.22 kB
Thumbnail for "Fair Trade Ibogaine ".
The story of one man’s journey from the jungles of Gabon to the NBA to the business of ibogaine.
September 4, 202433min 24sec48.03 MB
Thumbnail for "The Longest Trip".
What happens when the effects of a psychedelic experience won’t fully go away?
August 28, 202440min 28sec58.19 MB
Thumbnail for "The Peace Seekers".
A story of intergenerational trauma and a psychedelic brew
August 21, 202449min 24sec71.03 MB
Thumbnail for "An FDA Update".
Big news in the world of psychedelics
August 14, 20242min 3sec2.95 MB
Thumbnail for "Will Doctors Soon Prescribe Ecstasy?".
Can a psychedelic drug be a medicine? The federal government will soon decide.
August 7, 202432min 58sec47.4 MB
Thumbnail for "The Oregon Experiment".
A report from the first state in the country to allow people to take mushrooms legally.
August 7, 202435min 21sec50.83 MB
Thumbnail for "Coming Soon: Altered States".
A podcast about what science can tell us about psychedelics–and what psychedelics can tell us about ourselves.
July 31, 20243min 25sec4.92 MB

Was it DMT? Or was it heaven?

Thumbnail for "Was it DMT? Or was it heaven?".
October 8, 202533min 30sec

When a neurosurgeon claimed he glimpsed the afterlife during a coma, skeptics offered a more earthly interpretation – a surge of DMT produced by his own body. Was his tale of eternity a trick of the brain, or a window into something science can’t explain?

For a transcript of this episode, please visit this link.

Co-produced by PRX and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, Altered States is an award-winning podcast, taking home a 2025 Signal Award for Science and the 2026 Webby Award for Science and Education. To learn more, visit us our website. 

Transcript

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