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It's happened to all of us. You are at a party or business meeting and people are greeting one another. One of the people in the group looks vaguely familiar or the contextual clues suggest that you are supposed to know the person. What's the best way to navigate this potentially awkward social situation? Lifehacker has a solution: say, “Hey, do I know you from somewhere...?”On NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast, they share a simple way to find out if the person you’re greeting is a stranger or someone you should know. Aim to say this in a light or neutral tone so it comes off as natural. As you shake their hand or give a quick wave, say, “Hey, do I know you from somewhere...?”If they say no, play it off with, “Oh, you just looked a little familiar. Wonderful to meet you!”If they say yes and mention how you know each other, follow up with, “Yes, that’s right. So good to see you again!” Of course, this only works one or two times with the same person, so if you have a strong feeling you’ve met them before (and maybe used this trick), go for something more general like, “Hey, how are you?”I used the “Hey, how are you?” line about a month ago at a party. A woman with red hair walked up to the bar where I was standing and she looked at me with recognition and smiled warmly. She looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I'd met her. "Hi, how are you!" I said. She said something like, "It's so nice to see you!" As we chatted about nothing, it dawned on me that she was writer Susan Orlean. We'd never met before. She had mistaken me for someone else. I'm sure she soon realized that she'd never met me. After about 30 seconds of pleasant chitchat we parted.

Artist Annelies Hoffmeyr has a fun Instagram page that mischievously plays with Barbies, jewelry, and provocative "fashion shoots," if you will, including the use of tampons as hair curlers, cigarettes, and nail art. This is the coolest period art I've seen yet. I really don't understand why my tampon nails never became a trend 🤷🏼‍♀️ A post shared by Annelies Hofmeyr (@wit_myt) on Jul 1, 2017 at 11:14pm PDT Tampon Nail Art for #theperiodproject A post shared by Annelies Hofmeyr (@wit_myt) on Jun 7, 2015 at 8:31am PDTThanks Mashable!Cover image: Kaldari

It's not easy to tell that the Barack Obama in this video is a digital fake, but it is. It was created by researchers at the University of Washington. They developed an AI model of the former president's mouth movements so that the bot's lips sync up to any audio track. In this video, the digital Mr. Obama says things that the carbon-based Obama never said.From the YouTube description:Given audio of President Barack Obama, we synthesize a high quality video of him speaking with accurate lip sync, composited into a target video clip. Trained on many hours of his weekly address footage, a recurrent neural network learns the mapping from raw audio features to mouth shapes. Given the mouth shape at each time instant, we synthesize high quality mouth texture, and composite it with proper 3D pose matching to change what he appears to be saying in a target video to match the input audio track.The researchers say that even though the video looks real, it's easy to reverse engineer it and find out it's a fake. But will this always be the case?

A man having dinner at a New Jersey restaurant with his family noticed someone poking around his parked car, so he turned on his phone's video camera and walked over to challenge the suspected criminal. The snoop quickly backed away from the car, and the car owner saw a police badge on a lanyard hanging from his neck. When the man asked the cop what the hell he was doing, the cop offered a few mumbled excuses that were as lame as the gargantuan man bun on his head. The cop also tried to get the man to walk over to his police car, but the man wisely kept his distance. The video is being reviewed by the prosecutor's office in New Jersey.From Huffington Post:The Facebook page Mediatakeout shared the video, which has been viewed more than 1.7 million times. When the man filming asks the officer, “What the fuck is you doing, yo ... What is you in my van for,” the officer shuts the van’s rear door and walks away.The officer, still walking away, tells the man filming to follow him, but the man refuses. The man asks the officer again, “What is you in my car for when I’m sitting down eating with my family?”The officer tells the man that “we’re getting a lot of complaints about guns,” to which the man replies, “Listen, I don’t care about none of that. What are you in my van for?”When the man asks the officer how he accessed his trunk, the officer replies, “It’s open. It’s wide open.”“Still. Still,” the man filming says in return. “You’re not supposed to be in my van sir.”

“It’s about family, and that’s what’s so powerful about it,” says the late Carrie Fisher.

Two new studies from the Annals of Internal Medicine have made the rounds on news sites, each claiming that an increased coffee consumption leads to a higher life expectancy. While this may sound like a great excuse to fuel a coffee habit, the summary of the studies explicitly states that:Although drinking coffee cannot be recommended as being good for your health on the basis of these kinds of studies, the studies do suggest that for many people, no long-term harm will result from drinking coffee.Despite the claims from many news sources, excessive coffee drinking has not been proven to prolong your life. For those wondering why the study in inconclusive, an opinion piece in Forbes clearly outlines why association does not prove causation, and why more coffee will not necessarily benefit you.A compelling article from last year in New York Times' Well explains a fairly decisive link between genetics and the health impact of coffee-drinking. Whether or not you are a fast- or slow-metabolizer of caffeine may determine its health benefits or consequences. If you are interested in the subject, it is worth reading.While the two new studies do suggest that coffee drinkers live longer lives, there is no evidence that clearly points to coffee as the culprit. For now, drink assured that coffee will not harm you, but know that it may not be the elixir that it’s currently hyped up to be.Image: Peter Lindberg

Every week, Kevin Kelly, Claudia Dawson, and I send out our Recomendo newsletter. It's a lightweight rundown of six useful things. (Sign up here!) Here's this week's newsletter:Five good crime books:On the excellent Five Books website Author Simon Brett is interviewed about his five favorite crime novels. Three of his picks (A Kiss Before Dying, The Big Sleep, and The Talented Mr. Ripley) are among my favorites, so I added his other two picks to my wish list. — MFSummer enjoyment:I spent almost four hours lounging in this papasan float on the 4th of July and it’s now my favorite purchase of the year. Half my body stays in the water, so I’m able to stay cool while basking in the sun. The only drawback might be how easy it is to relax — time went by so fast, I got sunburned. — CDOutstanding listen:You know about Song Exploder, yes? It’s this amazing podcast that takes one well-known song each week and explodes it into its component parts. The musicians who wrote and perform the song take it apart track by track, sometimes beat by beat, explaining what they were thinking as they created the pieces: what challenges and dead-end they met along the way, how the song changed as they worked on it, and why they like the final version. It’s the x-ray into music I always wanted. — KKFree app finder:Daily App Advice shows you which paid apps are currently being given away for free in the iTunes App Store. I’ve found many useful free utilities and games here that usually cost between $1 and $10. — MFMovie night must-have:Cinesift is a website that combines film ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB and Metacritic and gives you the average. What I find the most helpful is that I can filter my movie search by genre, and limit results to only those available on Amazon Prime and/or Netflix Watch Instantly. That way I don’t waste time flipping between services searching for a movie. — CDBest work surface:I have a large self-healing mat on my workbench, and I have smaller cutting mats I lay on a table if I am working. The non-skid surface keeps parts and pieces stationary, while the cushion prevents dings in the table top beneath. And of course, the self-healing mat is ideal for cutting fabrics, paper, etc. with razors and blades. Also protects from spills better than cardboard. It is easy to clean up: just tilt and wipe. It’s become my default surface for any work. Get the largest size you can. At the minimum, an 18 x 24 inch mat covers well and yet is portable and easy to store. — KK

Do you have a neat signature, or a messy one? Do you let the dishes pile up in the sink, or do you clean them as soon as you are done using them? Do you prefer coffee or tea? The purpose of 2 Kinds of People, by João Rocha is to sit down with another person and go through the dozens of side-by-side drawings to find out how compatible you are. It isn't supposed to be a serious exercise, but you will probably learn some interesting things about yourself and your friends and partners by doing it. For instance, not only did I learn that Carla likes to hang her toilet paper with the hanging side towards the wall, she was also able to convince me that her preferred way is superior.

Hey, remember how Bill Clinton doubled down on the War on Drugs, perfecting Reagan's haphazard and shoddily made race-war into a well-oiled incarceration machine that turned America into the world's greatest incarcerator, a nation that imprisoned black people at a rate that exceeded Apartheid-era South Africa? (more…)

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The Metasploit framework is an open source tool that lets you simulate real attacks against your system. You can get introduced to this essential cyber security software with this Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking course, available now in the Boing Boing Store.Throughout these 23 lessons, you’ll exploit vulnerabilities, evade antivirus software, and gain unauthorized access to protected systems. After getting familiar with the Metasploit environment, you’ll analyze targets for system weaknesses and execute automated tests backed by the world’s largest database of exploits. You will learn how to escalate privileges and take over remote machines by executing your own penetration code, and discover how to effectively cover your digital tracks. It’s a great way to pick up the fundamentals of this critical security role, since you’ll be following along closely with their interactive lessons.This Hands on, Interactive Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking course is usually $65, but you can pick it up here for $28.

Sculptor Johnson Tsang (previously) has a cool new series of ceramic busts titled the Open Mind Series. Each one depicts a different way one's mind can be expanded. (more…)

Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull: "Well the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia." (more…)

Sara Barnes at My Modern Met profiles photographer Wiebke Haas, whose stunning art photographs of horses have won her global acclaim. (more…)

Manddy Wyckens' gifs of falling girls may trigger your thalassophobia, but they are pretty neat regardless. (more…)

I remember years ago, after a long hot hike, a British friend of mine took a Thermos of Pimm's out of her picnic basket and proceeded to pour us drinks. I still remember how "civilized" I felt sipping my refreshing little plastic cup of Pimm's in the woods. (more…)

On Super Bowl sunday, I usually can be found bowling with friends instead of watching football. We dress up in superhero costumes and award each other silly trophies that we've created just for the occasion. We actually call it the "Super Bowl," because, well, bowling. (more…)

"Phone, wallet, keys." Many of us recite these words to ourselves each time we leave home, or the office, or a friend's house, or anywhere at all. They're the typical essentials we all carry every single day, and would absolutely hate to lose. If you're a Samsung Galaxy S8 user, however, you can trim the list down to, "wallet, keys," when you've encased your phone in these Leather Folio Wallets.Made from minimally treated, vegetable-tanned leather from Horween leather, one of America's oldest tanneries, these cases include a tough, polycarbonate frame and are designed to beautifully patina over time. The case holds 3-6 credit cards, plus folded cash, so you can keep your pockets lean while protecting your phone.You can pick up one of these wallet cases in the Boing Boing Store for $49.95.

UK eye surgeon Rupal Morjaria was poised to operate on a 67-year-old patient when he discovered a "blueish mass" that turned out to be 17 old, lost contact lenses that had fused together; he then recovered 10 more loose, floating lenses from her eye. (more…)

Design firm Dorothy created an alphabet made up entirely of letters from classic rock band logos. I did OK on this one, but the alternative rock one kicked my butt: (more…)

With excellent integration in iOS and desktop browsers alike, 1Password is a very useful password manager for Apple users. Right now you can give it a free try for 60 days.1Password makes it easy to generate secure password strings and keep track of important credentials on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. By keeping all of your passwords encrypted behind a single, long-form pass phrase, you can maintain personal security while still having convenient access to all of your web logins, credit cards, and ID info.It lives on your desktop as a non-intrusive menu bar app, and keeps track of new accounts you create on websites automatically with plugins for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Their mobile app offers quick entry into your password vault with touch ID, so you can get into all of your online profiles as easily as on your home computer.Sign up for a 60-day trial with 1Password here in the Boing Boing Store.

Unless you’re fabulously wealthy or have stayed offline and away from news, your summer may be tinged with existential angst. This Trump stuff is super stressful. We invite you to browse this list of some physical and digital comforts in our store, to lighten your load. Unfortunately, you will have to connect to the internet to do that, and pick them up for yourself. Just don't read the news. (more…)

Surfer Filipe Jervis stars in Timing, a short film that encourages everyone to pursue their dreams now, and not wait for the perfect timing. Why? Because it's never the perfect time. (more…)

Naomi Klein (previously) is the author of several voraciously readable, hugely influential books about radical politics, most recently No is Not Enough, which calls for a positive vision for a different, better future, going beyond the idea of replacing Trump, May and other neoliberal leaders with slightly less neoliberal leaders who might be slightly better on climate change or women's reproductive rights -- as the joke goes, "A conservative wants the world to be run by 150 white, male CEOs; a liberal wants to be sure half of them are women and/or people of color." (more…)

On Wednesday, heavily armed and armored Berlin police carried out a series of raids, arresting four suspects in the theft of a $3.9m, 220lb manhole-cover-sized gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum in March. (more…)

Adam Greenfield's new book Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life (previously) has scored an outstanding review from The Guardian's Steven Poole, who calls it "a landmark primer and spur to more informed and effective opposition" to "the pitiless libertarianism towards which all [Smart Cities] developments seem to lean." (more…)

W Aaron Waychoff, creator of the Falsom Upside-Down ⊥ "Resist" campaign, was inspired by this 2016 post; he writes, "I've made a proof-of-concept encrypting digital camera based on the open source, widely adoped GnuPG. This project uses public key encryption to encrypt every photo the camera takes before writing the encrypted version to memory. Of particular note, there are absolutely no UI changes over what an ordinary point-and-shoot camera provides. No extra keyboards or touch screens are needed as no passwords need be entered." (more…)

Assemblage artist Bernard Pras creates incredible 3D installation portraits from trash. (via @saatchi_gallery Instagram)

In 1971 high school student Juliane Koepcke fell two miles into the Peruvian rain forest when her airliner broke up in a thunderstorm. Miraculously, she survived the fall, but her ordeal was just beginning. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Juliane's arduous trek through the jungle in search of civilization and help.We'll also consider whether goats are unlucky and puzzle over the shape of doorknobs.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!

Whenever I've gone to a vintage car show, I've often wondered how they get their engines so sparkling clean. Now I know!This comprehensive how-to video from YouTuber ChrisFix shows exactly how to wash, and then detail, your vehicle's engine bay. It takes about two hours, from start to finish, to get your engine super-shiny clean.I think his "before and after" engine bay photos are particularly satisfying.Note to self: Keep this video handy for your post-Burning Man engine-cleaning needs. (digg)

AntsCanada (previously) has an overpopulation problem in his yellow crazy ant colony, so he added two kinds of carnivorous pitcher plants. The resulting relationship between ant versus plant turned out to be quite fascinating. (more…)

YouTuber TheCraftMaiden decided to make a Harry Potter Golden Egg, and it's a triumph of winging it when trying a craft project. It even has a turnable owl to open it. (more…)

Are you a security researcher planning to present at Black Hat, Defcon, B-Sides or any of this summer's security events? Are you worried a big corporation or the government might attack you for revealing true facts about the defects in the security systems we entrust with our safety, privacy and health? (more…)

In 2015, U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring the communications of Russian agents overheard them talking "about meetings held outside the U.S. involving Russian government officials and Trump business associates or advisers.” That was before Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign began.The Wall Street Journal reports that “In light of the release of emails Tuesday by Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, investigators are going back to” early reports of chatter between Russians in the U.S. and members of Trump's inner circle, to see if they can better understand the intercepted conversations. (more…)

Supermarket tabloids have given us aliens in the White House, Bat Boy, Elvis lives, and the first photos of heaven, but I never thought I’d read this stunning sentence . . .“In May, a new ferry service began moving up to 200 passengers and 1,000 tons of cargo every month between North Korea and the Russian port of Vladivostok.”What the hell is happening at the ‘National Enquirer?’They’ve gone so deep into Donald Trump’s corner that its readers who crave titilating details of celebrity scandal are being fed a weekly diet of Trumped-up propaganda, which this week brings us a cover story and three pages on “Trump’s secret plan to defeat North Korea’s Doomsday machine.”America is evidently under siege by North Korea’s escalating nuclear weapons program, and “Donald Trump has taken bold and extraordinary steps to ensure America survives the siege and emerges with total victory!”That sounds like something that Kim Jong-un’s propaganda machine might churn out, but it’s here in the ‘Enquirer,’ which laboriously details tanker movements between North Korea and Russia, reporting: “It could be oil - or something much more sinister.” Maybe they’re shipping old copies of the ‘Enquirer’ to North Korea - what could be more sinister that that?At least it’s not all geopolitics in this week’s tabloids.Kim Kardashian has been allegedly “caught on drug video” claims the ‘Enquirer,’ though since it was filmed in 2003, that’s neither new or shocking.Dubious reporting abounds in the ‘Enquirer,’ which claims that Natalie Wood “was raped before her death!” The mag explains that a rape kit may have been used during the actress’s autopsy, but no results were ever released. But since when is using a rape kit proof that anyone was actually raped? Hearsay and conjecture: the ingredients for any good tabloid story.The ‘Enquirer’ fails again when exposing Michael Jackson’s “kiddie nude stash.” But it’s not Jacko's promised treasure trove of child porn. Rather it’s a copy of an old magazine with the titles of nudist DVDs circled - a magazine found among "documents of Michael’s management team.” So the 1999 mag could have belonged to one of many people, not just Jackson. And the videos, while showing nudist families, were not pornographic. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?The ‘Globe’ maintains these high journalistic standards with its cover story claiming that child beauty pageant veteran JonBenet Ramsey's murder has been "finally solved!” Ignoring past ‘Globe’ stories that have repeatedly “solved” JonBenet’s murder by naming convict John Mark Karr as her self-confessed killer, the magazine now claims that convicted sex attacker Keith Schwinaman is her real killer. The “new evidence”? Evidently Schwinaman’s plea deal ensured that he could not be forced to submit his DNA to see if he committed other crimes. He’s clearly hiding something . . . therefore he’s JonBenet’s killer! It seems obvious, doesn’t it? When has the ‘Globe’ ever been wrong before? (Hint - ask John Mark Karr.)“Queen names William King!” screams the ‘National Examiner’ cover headline, scooping all of Fleet Street and the world’s press with this “Royal Shocker!” The Queen has reportedly axed son Charles from succeeding to the throne over his “$250 million divorce.” Only two small problems with these stories: Charles and Camilla haven't filed for divorce, and Charles is still heir to the British throne. I know, picky, picky . . .‘Dancing With the Stars’ nuptials dominate the glossies this week: Julianne Hough’s “dream wedding” occupies the cover and seven pages of ‘People’ magazine, while fellow cast-mate Maksim Chemerkovsky’s wedding to DWTS dancer Peta Murgatroyd takes the cover and six pages of ‘Us’ magazine. “The dresses! The dancing! The ring-bearer dogs!” raves ‘People.’ “The ring, the dress, the afterparty!” rejoices ‘Us.’ What, no ring-bearer dogs for Maks and Peta? Couldn’t they all have saved a fortune and had a double wedding?Blac Chyna tells ‘Us’ mag “my side of the story” in her break-up with Rob Kardashian, the least interesting member of a self-aggrandizing family whose lives are fabricated for the cameras. She reveals next to nothing, proclaiming “I’m taking a classier route.” But where’s the fun in that? And she fails to answer the question on everyones’ lips: Why can’t she figure out how to spell Black China?Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at ‘Us’ magazine to tell us that Vanessa Hudgens wore it best (and still looked terrible), that Fred Savage’s favorite place in the world is his backyard, Real Housewives of New York City newcomer Tinsley Mortimer carries hairspray, sunglasses and tanning cream in her L.L. Bean tote, and that the stars are just like us: they bicycle, eat fruit, and shop at drugstores. Shocking!Rescuing us from dreary details of Russian-Korean trade, the ‘Examiner’ tries to return tabloids to their former glory with news that “Dead Aliens Seen at Roswell Crash Site!” Better yet, the ‘Examiner’ reveals that “UFOs destroyed our nukes!” Apparently ten ICBMs were mysteriously switched to “off-alert” and could not be launched, after UFOs floated above a U.S. military base in Minot, North Dakota, in 1966. It seems a long time for such a revelation to be revealed, but witnesses were reportedly “instructed to keep silent.” Thank goodness someone was finally brave enough to reveal the truth.Onwards and downwards . . .

For the third time in the past three years, hotel guests at 14 Trump properties including Washington, New York and Vancouver, had their personal credit card info exposed to hackers. (more…)

What kind of music do kids with braces listen to? Heavy Metal. What does an orthodontist do during an earthquake? She braces herself.(GIF via /r/Damnthatsinteresting)

It's the US national day to save Net Neutrality: the day when we phone, tweet, email, and show up in person at every congresscritter, senator and FCC Commisioner's office to demand a free, fair and open internet, where the big phone and cable companies don't get to demand bribes from the services you use for delivering them to you. (more…)

He's got those crazy hungry Corgi eyes. (more…)

58% of "right-leaning Americans" believe that colleges and universities "have a negative effect on the country"; only 36% of Republican-leaning voters support higher education. (more…)

On YouTube, Gangnam Style's been the most-played video for five years—a little-known testament to the grim reality of popular culture these days. But no longer! It has finally been dethroned, by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's See You Again. Moreover, Despacito, embedded above, seems likely to storm past it in due course.Here's the top 10.1) Wiz Khalifa, See You Again (ft Charlie Puth) - 2,895,373,7092) Psy, Gangnam Style - 2,894,426,4753) Justin Bieber, Sorry - 2,635,572,1614) Mark Ronson, Uptown Funk (ft Bruno Mars) - 2,550,545,7175) Luis Fonsi, Despacito (ft Daddy Yankee) - 2,482,502,7476) Taylor Swift, Shake It Off - 2,248,761,0957) Enrique Iglesias, Bailando - 2,232,756,2288) Maroon 5, Sugar - 2,150,365,6359) Katy Perry, Roar - 2,129,400,97310) Taylor Swift, Blank Space - 2,101,607,657

A fellow traveling from Melbourne to Perth, Australia checked a single can of Emu Export lager. He was surprised when it popped out on the the conveyor belt at baggage claim. “My mate works at the airport and we hatched the plan as a laugh — I half didn’t expect it to come out the other end,” he said.“But when it did it was sent out well in front of all the other luggage, so the baggage handlers obviously appreciated it.”(News.com.au)

In 2012, Google introduced Certificate Transparency, an internet-wide tripwire system designed to catch cryptographic "certificate authorities" who abused their position to produce counterfeit credentials that would allow criminals, governments and police to spy on and tamper with secure internet connections. (more…)

Amazon Prime Day kicks off at the hour, heralding what its hype claims is a better set of deals than the traditional November stampedes. I eagerly hit the previews in expectation of interesting tech bargains and whatnot, but the only things I could find worth buying are are these enormous bagfuls of colorful candy cocks. That said, I can hardly say I'm disappointed.

I enjoyed Rob Reid's 2013 science fiction humor novel, Year Zero, about a pan-galactic conspiracy by aliens who would rather destroy Earth than pay music royalties. Next month, Rob has a new novel coming out called After On, and I'm excited to read it. Here's what my friend Hugh Howey (author of the Wool series) has to say about After On: "Rob Reid doesn’t write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account I’ve read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructed — After On has it all.”If you want a sneak preview, you can read it on Medium, which is publishing twelve episodic excerpts from After On, starting today. Medium will also publish Rob's After On podcast that explores themes from the novel and interviews folks like Sam Harris, Steve Jurvetson, and Adam Gazzaley -- "on the future of tech, AI, and consciousness."Here's what Rob wrote in a Medium post about his novel:Set in present-day San Francisco, After On is the tale of an imaginary social media startup. A rather diabolical one, which attains consciousness. Its personality then emerges from its roots as a social network. So rather than going all Terminator and killing everyone, it basically becomes a hyper-empowered, superintelligent, 14-year-old brat. Yes, it has playful aspects. But After On is also a serious rumination on super AI risk — as well as on the promises and perils of synthetic biology. It also looks at quantum computing, nihilistic terrorism, privacy & government intrusion, the roots of consciousness, Fermi’s paradox, simulation theory, plus sex & dating in the post-Tinder era.

I think the walls in our house have chicken wire in them because it acts like a Faraday cage. WiFi just doesn't penetrate walls. So I use power-over-ethernet to fill every room with wi-fi. I attached a power-over-ethernet unit to my cable internet modem and plugged it into an AC outlet. In the other rooms of the house, I use wi-fi power-over-ethernet adapters. The internet connection travels through the power wiring of the house. It's not as fast as a wired ethernet connection, but it works well for our purposes, including streaming video. Here's a good starter kit on Amazon.

Psychologists at Johns Hopkins University are currently giving two dozen religious leaders psilocybin, the psychedelic drug in magic mushrooms, to, y'know, see what happens. From The Guardian:Despite most organised religions frowning on the use of illicit substances, Catholic, Orthodox and Presbyterian priests, a Zen Buddhist and several rabbis were recruited. The team has yet to persuade a Muslim imam or Hindu priest to take part, but “just about all the other bases are covered,” according to (study co-leader Dr. William) Richards....“It is too early to talk about results, but generally people seem to be getting a deeper appreciation of their own religious heritage,” he said. “The dead dogma comes alive for them in a meaningful way. They discover they really believe this stuff they’re talking about.”There is also a suggestion that after their psychedelic journey, the leaders’ notions of religion shifted away from the sectarian towards something more universal. “They get a greater appreciation for other world religions. Other ways up the mountain, if you will,” said Richards.“In these transcendental states of consciousness, people seem to get to levels of consciousness that seem universal,” he added. “So a good rabbi can encounter the Buddha within him.”"Religious leaders get high on magic mushrooms ingredient – for science" (The Guardian)