Psilocybin, one of the psychoactive compounds in magic mushrooms, was found to have comparable effects to the antidepressant escitalopram. The Phase 2 trial, conducted by Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris et al. at Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research, was published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine. The 59 participants were all suffering from major depressive disorder and over a six-week period received either two doses of psilocybin or daily doses of escitalopram as well as psychological support. The primary outcome was a self-reporting questionnaire on depressive symptoms, and by this measure there was no significant difference between psilocybin and escitalopram. However, the trial also involved several secondary outcomes including other measures of depression and related conditions. In every secondary measure, psilocybin performed significantly better than escitalopram. While the results of this trial suggest that psilocybin is a promising option for treating depression, they are far from conclusive. Larger and longer trials will be required before psilocybin can be used in the clinic, but this study demonstrates that the drug certainly has potential in being a safe and effective new treatment for depression. Written by Jacob Smith, illustrated by Kruthika Sundaram
Catherine Heymans, professor of astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, was named Astronomer Royal for Scotland in May 2021. Professor Heymans, who also serves as director of the German Centre for Cosmological Lensing at Ruhr-University Bochum, thus becomes the first female to be awarded the title dating back almost 200 years. A world-renowned expert on the dark universe, Heymans seeks to shed light on the elusive mysteries that make up our cosmos. One of her major achievements to date is the first large-scale map of dark matter. Since its creation in 1834, the position of Astronomer Royal for Scotland was originally held by the director of the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh. From 1995 onwards it has been awarded as an honorary title. Professor Heymans put forward her intention to use this platform to encourage a wider engagement with science, both in amateur and professional settings. She plans to start by installing telescopes at all remote outdoor learning centres in Scotland, popular school-trip destinations. “My hope is that once that spark and connection with the Universe is made, children will carry that excitement home with them and develop a life-long passion for astronomy or, even better, science as a whole,” she said. Written by Alkisti Kallinikou, illustrated by Freya Aylward 4 Winter 2022 | eusci.org.uk
