The modern phenomenon of psychedelic microdosing arose over the last decade, primarily due to American researcher James Fadiman popularizing the idea with his book The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide in 2011. The idea is that small doses of psychedelics such as LSD can result in enhancements to productivity, creativity, mental well-being and energy, but the key is that these doses are so small the user does not experience any hallucinogenic effects.

Although anecdotal stories of self-administered microdosing have flourished, the phenomenon has remained one of the most understudied areas of psychedelic medicine. Not only have there been no human trials into microdosing, but there have been no studies in animals either. A compelling new study set out to fill some of those gaps in the science, testing the effects of a two-month DMT microdose regime on rats.

"Prior to our study, essentially nothing was known about the effects of psychedelic microdosing on animal behaviors," says David Olson, lead on the UC David research project. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated in animals that psychedelic microdosing might actually have some beneficial effects, particularly for depression or anxiety."