Carine Chen-McLaughlin smoked for more than 40 years.

She didn’t want to be a smoker. She’d tried to stop dozens of times over the decades. But she always came back.

Smoking was “one of my oldest, dearest friends,” she said of her habit. “To not have that relationship was very, very scary.”

Then she heard about a clinical trial to treat nicotine addiction with something a little unusual: magic mushrooms. Well, not actual magic mushrooms, but a little pill of a drug called psilocybin. It’s the ingredient in mushrooms that gives people hallucinogenic visions.

New research shows that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for diseases such as depression and addiction. While the work is still in its early stages, there are signs that psilocybin might help addicts shake the habit by causing the brain to talk with itself in different ways.

Short Wave Podcast

It’s science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join host Maddie Sofia for science on a different wavelength.