Octopuses and humans have very little in common. It’s not just a matter of their eight limbs and cool camouflage—we haven’t had a shared ancestor for more than half a billion years, before dinosaurs walked the earth. But there’s one surprising thing we do seem to share: MDMA makes us both a lot cuddlier. For neuroscientist Gül Dölen, this was a huge insight into the powerful role psychoactive drugs can play in animal social behavior. Now a pioneer in the burgeoning field of psychedelic research at UC Berkeley, Dölen discusses her quest to understand how these drugs could be harnessed as tools in learning and therapeutics. 

Further reading: 

• Gül Dölen’s 2019 Nature paper “Oxytocin-dependent reopening of a social reward learning critical period with MDMA”
• Gül Dölen’s 2018 Current Biology paper “A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus”
• UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics launches new online course on “Psychedelics and the Mind”
• Altered States, a new podcast from from PRX and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics about “what science can tell us about psychedelics and what psychedelics can tell us about ourselves”

This episode was written and hosted by Leah Worthington and produced by Coby McDonald. 

Special thanks to Pat Joseph, Nathalia Alcantara, and Gül Dölen. Art by Michiko Toki and original music by Mogli Maureal. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.

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