Editor's note

After a very long hiatus, scientific research into psychedelics has kicked off again in recent years. And evidence is mounting for the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and LSD for a number of mental health conditions including depression, addiction, and end-of-life care. Most recently, and innovatively, new research has suggested that psychedelics may also have potential for planetary, as well as personal, healing. Could LSD help us crack climate change?

Psychologist Matthew Adams is both healthily sceptical and keenly interested by this idea. He takes a look at the claims in more detail, puts them in context, and considers whether the increase in a feeling of connection to nature that psychedelics seem to elicit could be of some help in the face of widespread inaction.

The Church of England has declared that sex is only permissible in heterosexual marriage, in a statement that will delight conservatives and shock others. But this use of the Bible could be seen as an abuse of scripture. And a high profile BBC correspondent has shared that he has suffered from PTSD for a number of years. Hopefully this will help stem the stigma around mental illness that journalists face.

Jonathan Este

Associate Editor, Arts + Culture Editor

Top stories

Enase/Shutterstock.com

Could psychedelics help us resolve the climate crisis?

Matthew Adams, University of Brighton

Psychedelic drugs are creating waves as evidence mounts of their therapeutic potential. New research also suggests they might mitigate the climate crisis by unlocking a lost connection to nature.

Documents released by Church of England reinforce their teaching that ‘homosexuality is incompatible with scripture’. kaninw/Shutterstock

Using the Bible against LGBTQ+ people is an abuse of scripture

Chris Greenough, Edge Hill University

By practising double standards, Conservative Christians are missing the point of the scriptures.

BBC Africa Editor, Fergal Keane, in a still from the 2001 film about the Rwanda genocide, Hope in Hell. Comic Relief

Fergal Keane: hopes that BBC reporter’s courage will help remove stigma of PTSD in journalists

Stephen Jukes, Bournemouth University; Karen Fowler-Watt, Bournemouth University

Keane is stepping back from his role as the BBC's Africa editor due to a long struggle with PTSD after years reporting from conflict zones.

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