Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — April 16, 2021

5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Bullet Friday,” a list of what I’m pondering and finding interesting. This week has been a wild one on multiple levels, so I’ve thrown in an extra bullet.

Article I’m reading —
“A Tiny Particle’s Wobble Could Upend the Known Laws of Physics” (New York Times). The subheading gives you the gist: “Experiments with particles known as muons suggest that there are forms of matter and energy vital to the nature and evolution of the cosmos that are not yet known to science.” To dig deeper, or if you have issues with the above link, visit this link and see the accompanying short video.

Breaking news that I’m exploring —
“Magic mushroom compound at least as good as antidepressant in UK study” (Reuters) and “Psychedelic drug worked for depression as well as common antidepressant, small trial finds” (NBC News). These articles discuss the first head-to-head comparison of psilocybin therapy and the antidepressant escitalopram, also known as Lexapro. There is a lot of confusing media coverage, but the above two pieces are well done. What is the simple summary? Below is a snippet of how one researcher uninvolved with the study, Dr. Alexandre Lehmann (Scientific Director at PSFC, Cognitive Neuroscience PI at McGill University), put it. I’ve bolded an important contrast that is under-discussed in the buzz online:

“Results published in one of the world’s top medical journals [The New England Journal of Medicine] demonstrate that two sessions of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy were as effective in treating depression over the course of six weeks as daily intake of SSRI antidepressants combined with psychotherapy. Additionally, remission rates were twice as high in the psilocybin group as in the escitalopram group. Furthermore, psilocybin appeared to outperform escitalopram on a number of secondary outcome measures. However, in secondary measures, the methodology used does not allow to assert this with the highest statistical standards.

...

“Even if psilocybin turns out to be ‘only just as good’ as SSRIs, but can provide long-term relief after a few doses, with fewer side effects, and be effective in the estimated 30% of patients who do not benefit from SSRIs…” that would be a very big deal, indeed.

As Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris (@RCarhartHarris), the lead author of the paper, elaborates in the NBC coverage: “The receptors SSRIs work on seem to inhibit responses in the brain, particularly stress responses, and we think that takes the edge off so you can tolerate stress better…. With psychedelics, it’s almost the opposite. It’s almost like a brutal confrontation with the root of your suffering, which can allow people to better understand where their depression stems from.”

What I’m listening to —
Jocko Podcast: “#277: The War Continues at Home. Fighting Demons and Finding Peace” and “#115: Into the Fire, and Beyond the Call of Duty, with Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer.” Both episodes feature Dakota Meyer, who is the second-youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, the third living recipient for either the Iraq War or the War in Afghanistan, and the first living United States Marine in 38 years to be so honored. In episode #277, he discusses his personal use of psychedelics for PTSD and the outcomes he’s experienced. The following news from this week is related and includes Dakota: “Rick Perry returns to the Texas Capitol to pitch study of psychedelic drugs for PTSD in veterans.”

Historical figure I’m studying —
Plenty Coups. From Wikipedia: “Plenty Coups (Crow: Alaxchíia Ahú, ‘many achievements’; 1848–1932) was the principal chief of the Crow Nation (Apsáalooke) and a visionary leader.”

Song I’m listening to —
“Canopée” (YouTube, Spotify) by Polo & Pan (@poloandpan).

Quote I’m pondering —
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

And, as always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.

Have a wonderful weekend, all.

Much love to you and yours,

Tim

P.S. Deal of the Week — Magic Spoon Cereal. I’ve been enjoying this low-carb, high-protein breakfast cereal for months now, often with low-sugar oat milk or delicious whole milk. It looks and tastes just like “regular” cereal (think Cocoa Puffs or Froot Loops), but each serving has just 3–4 grams net carbs and is packed with 13–14 grams of protein. Forbes has called Magic Spoon “the future of cereal,” and Time magazine included them in their list of “Best Inventions” of 2019. It contains no gluten, grains, soy, sugar, or other junk ingredients, and their Cocoa and Peanut Butter flavors are my personal favorites. To celebrate their 2nd birthday next week, Magic Spoon is launching a limited-edition Birthday Cake flavor! Subscribers to “5-Bullet Friday”—that’s you guys—are getting an exclusive early-access deal: a FREE full-size box ($10 value) of this limited-edition Birthday Cake flavor with every order, valid until Sunday 4/18 at midnight PDT. Their new flavors are always delicious and constantly sell out, and you can now get a box for free before anyone else knows it exists. Click here to claim your free box of high-fun, low-carb, high-protein Birthday Cake cereal today. This deal is only available at this exclusive link, which will auto-apply the free box and discount at checkout.

Join millions of monthly readers. Get exclusive content, private Q&As, giveaways, and more. No spam, ever. Just great stuff.