India, Aug. 1 -- In a new study published in Nature Partner Journals: Aging, scientists found that psilocin, a substance the body makes after taking psilocybin, helped human skin and lung cells live over 50 percent longer. Notably, psilocybin is the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms.
Researchers from Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine tested psilocin on human cell samples and live mice. The scientists used adult skin cells and fetal lung cells in the lab. These cells were treated with psilocin and watched until they stopped dividing, a stage called 'senescence.' Lung cells treated with the compound took 57 percent longer to reach this stage, while skin cells lasted 51 percent longer than normal.
In both cases, the sc...