Reporter Adreanna Rodriguez gets invited to Texas to harvest peyote, a psychoactive cactus often caught in the crosshairs of the so-called psychedelic Renaissance. When she arrives, she finds a threatened cactus, a community determined to protect it, and an unexpected calling that reconnects her to home.

How do you know if a mouse is on a psychedelic? It might just shake its head. This behavior, known as the head-twitch response, signals whether a molecule is a psychedelic-like hallucinogen. Head twitch is one tool used by pharmaceutical companies racing to develop new mental health drugs. But does a mouse experience an altered state like a human? Do animals have mystical experiences? And what can we really learn about the brain, or even human consciousness, from these unwitting rodent psychonauts?

A former Navy SEAL named Craig deployed nine times over nearly three decades in the military. When he left the service, he felt lucky to have all his limbs, toes and fingers. But he found himself struggling with language and memory and rising frustration. One day he forgot his wife’s name and couldn’t remember it for hours. His wife Gretchen started looking for help online and found information about a Stanford University research study on ibogaine and veterans. Craig volunteered. On October 8, Dr. Nolan Williams, who led that ibogaine study, died. He was 42.