Human brain is mapped while on LSD and the images are amazing

LSD is possibly the most powerful drug known to man.  For decades it has been studied, since it's creation in 1938 by Albert Hoffman.

In  the 1960s, the drug was banned and research slowed to a crawl.  It is only recently, nearly 50 years later, that scientists have begun to study the value of the drug as an anti-depressent and method to overcome addiction to other substances and behaviors.

Still, people wondered why.  Why did LSD have such a profound impact on people taking it and why did they experience this sense of oneness, almost inherently, in the trip?

Now, because of three brain imaging techniques, arterial spin labelling, resting state MRI and magnetoencephalography, the scientists were able to measure blood flow, functional connections within and between brain networks, and brainwaves.  These measurements are captured in visual accuity and are quite stunning.

“This is to neuroscience what the Higgs boson was to particle physics,” said David Nutt, the government’s former drugs advisor, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London. “We didn’t know how these profound effects were produced. It was too difficult to do. Scientists were either scared or couldn’t be bothered to overcome the enormous hurdles to get this done.”

Now they're getting it done.