Luminous

Episodes

TTBOOK Presents Luminous episode 1. A door with magical colors coming out.

In the first episode in our series about psychedelics, how can psilocybin ease our fears about dying and help us make peace with the end of our lives?More

To The Best of out Knowledge presents Luminous

In this episode of "Luminous," we go inside Usona Institute’s chemistry lab and go deep with co-founder Bill Linton about what brought him to this unique moment in the psychedelic revolution.  More

Interviews from this series

an illustration of a man who's mind is being expanded by psychedelics
Articles

Bill Linton is on a mission. He wants to get FDA approval for using psychedelics to treat depression and addiction. So he co-founded his own nonprofit psychedelic center, Usona Institute, to help revolutionize the treatment of mental illness.More

an older woman with her hands folded.
Articles

A decade ago, Lou Lukas took part in one of the first trials of psilocybin-assisted therapy. Today, she's a palliative medicine physician and an advocate for psychedelic-assisted therapy – especially for people living in fear near the end of life.More

Anthony Bossis
Audio

Tony Bossis was one of the lead investigators on the 2016 study that found stress reduction in cancer patients after a single dose of psilocybin. He's fascinated by how the mystical experiences of the great religions map onto psychedelic experiences.More

Roland Griffiths
Articles

Roland Griffiths helped pioneer the use of psychedelics to treat people with cancer who are scared of dying. Then he got his own terminal diagnosis. He talks with Steve Paulson about his personal LSD journey when he "talked" with his cancer.More

An illustration of a scientists synthesizing mushrooms in a lab
Articles

A psychedelic research center in Wisconsin is gearing up to manufacture enough medical-grade psilocybin to supply the world. Steve Paulson went to Usona Insitute to see where the magic's made, and got a peek inside the lab of chemist Alex Sherwood.More

TTBOOK Presents Luminous

About To The Best Of Our Knowledge

”To the Best of Our Knowledge” is a Peabody award-winning national public radio show that explores big ideas and beautiful questions. Deep interviews with philosophers, writers, artists, scientists, historians, and others help listeners find new sources of meaning, purpose, and wonder in daily life. Whether it’s about bees, poetry, skin, or psychedelics, every episode is an intimate, sound-rich journey into open-minded, open-hearted conversations. Warm and engaging, TTBOOK helps listeners feel less alone and more connected – to our common humanity and to the world we share. Learn more about the show here.

If you enjoy this series, you might also enjoy these

Roland Griffiths
Audio

Roland Griffiths is a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins. He's just turned his attention to psilocybin, a classic hallucinogen commonly known as magic mushrooms. He tells Steve Paulson about his findings.More

Original Air Date:

June 05, 2011

AYELET WALDMAN
Articles

How taking microdoses of LSD for a month helped her find a calm she hadn’t known for years.More

Original Air Date:

March 05, 2017

Fruit bodies of the fungus Psilocybe pelliculosa
Articles

After the excesses of the 1960s — and an ensuing moral panic — psychedelic research was outlawed by the United States government for decades. But today, the research is blossoming as a promising treatment for depression and anxiety.More

Original Air Date:

February 15, 2020

trippy mountain
Sonic Sidebar

Desperate for help with his PTSD, Dan Kasza took a strange brew of frog venom and ayahuasca.More

Original Air Date:

March 05, 2017

plant
Articles

Plants are intelligent beings with profound wisdom to impart—if only we know how to listen. And Monica Gagliano knows how to listen.More

Original Air Date:

December 19, 2020

Magic mushrooms and our primate ancestors
Audio

Magic mushrooms go way back in human history. Some people even believe psychedelic mushrooms helped create human consciousness. We examine the "Stoned Ape Theory."More

Original Air Date:

June 06, 2019