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Science

Brainforest Café

by SpectreVision Radio

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Latest episodes

  • The Mushroom That Makes You See "Little People"

    October 5, 2026 · 59 min

    For nearly a century, reports of a mysterious psychoactive bolete have puzzled ethnomycologists and anthropologists alike. From the 1930s reports of "mushroom madness" in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, which drew the curiosity of R…

  • The Brain Is a Field Computer, Not a Digital Chip

    September 21, 2026 · 1 hr 28 min

    Dennis McKenna sits down with scholar, lawyer, and philosopher Tam Hunt (UC Santa Barbara’s META Lab) to dive deep into the mysteries of consciousness, psychedelics, and the existential crossroads of artificial intelligence. Tam shares…

  • Why Ibogaine Triggers a 'Second Childhood' in the Brain

    September 9, 2026 · 1 hr 15 min

    Jonathan Dickinson, CEO and co-founder of Ambio Life Sciences and author of Ibogaine and the Bicameral Mind, returns to the Brainforest Café for part two of his conversation with Dr. Dennis McKenna. Where part one followed the personal…

  • Ibogaine and the Bicameral Mind: A New Perspective on Addiction and Recovery

    September 7, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

    Jonathan Dickinson, co-founder and CEO of Ambio Life Sciences and founder of Terragnosis, joins Dr. Dennis McKenna on the Brainforest Café for a conversation about ibogaine, iboga, and the Bwiti tradition of Gabon. - - - Jonathan…

  • Inside Colombia’s Top Ayahuasca Retreat

    August 24, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

    What if the future of ayahuasca isn’t in the hype cycle, but in safety, tradition, and real transformation? In this conversation, Sam Believ and Dennis McKenna explore Colombia’s overlooked ayahuasca lineage, the importance of set and…

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  • Ibogaine, Kintsugi & the Secret to True Healing

    August 10, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min

    In this conversation, Patricia Eastman and Dennis McKenna explore the deeper meaning of psychedelic healing through the lens of ancestral wisdom, initiation, and nature-based practice. Patricia shares the story behind her book Seeding…

  • Ayahuasca, Science, and Shamanism

    July 27, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

    In 2003, Carlos Tanner woke up in his car underwater, having blacked out behind the wheel and driven into a river. Deep in an opiate addiction, he went to the Amazon to save his own life. What he found there became his life's work. In…

  • Can Plants Replace Animals in Drug Testing?

    July 13, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

    In this episode of the Brainforest Café, Dennis McKenna sits down with medicinal chemist Matt Metcalf to explore a genuinely strange frontier: testing drugs in pea seedlings and the touch-sensitive Mimosa pudica instead of in mice. Along…

  • The Pharmacy Was Always the Pantry | Cedric Baker

    June 29, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

    Dennis McKenna sits down with his old friend Dr. Cedric Baker, an ethnopharmacologist and medical herbalist who studies the ethnobotany of food across more than thirty countries. Together they take apart one of modern medicine's most…

  • Can Yeast Save Endangered Psychedelics?

    June 14, 2026 · 1 hr 13 min

    As the psychedelic renaissance surges, wild sources are collapsing under demand—peyote takes decades to grow, safrole extraction is destroying Southeast Asian forests, and Sonoran Desert toads are being overharvested. In his book…

  • Inside the Front Lines of Psychedelic Journalism

    June 1, 2026 · 1 hr 13 min

    Dennis McKenna sits down with journalist Mattha Busby to discuss the evolving world of psychedelics, including ayahuasca, ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT, coca policy, drug reform, and the risks and realities behind psychedelic retreats and clinics…

  • Terence McKenna, Psychedelics, and the Philosophy of Knowledge

    May 18, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min

    In this rich and thought-provoking conversation, Dennis McKenna speaks with philosopher Mandi Astola about Terence McKenna, psychedelics, epistemology, shamanism, and the nature of knowledge. Together they explore how psychedelic…

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About the show

In the Brainforest Café, Dennis McKenna discusses a wide range of topics related to philosophy, plant medicines, psychedelics and consciousness in nature. Guests are invited from diverse fields such as anthropology, neuroscience, and spirituality to explore various aspects of the human experience. Some of the topics that are covered in the Brainforest Café include the history and the role of plant medicines in traditional healing practices and the potential benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health. The Brainforest Café also explores the cultural, social, and political implications of psychedelic use. Dennis McKenna shares his own personal experiences with plant medicines, offering insights and reflections on his own journey of self-discovery and transformation. The Brainforest Café is a thought-provoking and engaging exploration of the intersection between science, spirituality, and culture, and offers a valuable perspective on the potential of plant medicines to transform our understanding of ourselves and the natural world. McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophyhttps://mckenna.academy/ SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring the anomalous, the luminous, and the numinous. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevision