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Can psychedelics help smokers quit? Scientists are about to find out. A US federal grant has been given to study a psychedelic drug as a possible treatment for the first time in 50 years. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: New trial to test whether psychedelic drug can cure smoking addition. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> The US National Institutes of Health has awarded a grant to scientists at Johns Hopkins University, in the first offer of its kind in half a century. The study, a randomised controlled trial expected to start later this year, will investigate whether psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms”, can help people quit smoking tobacco. Hopkins researchers will lead the trial , which will be done in collaboration with researchers at NYU Langone Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Until now, the lack of support from NIH on psychedelic research had been a major hurdle in the field, University of California ass...

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients. Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may qualify for the study, it said, but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which will take about six years to complete. The study will use a robot to surgically place a brain -computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone. The company, which had earlier hoped to receive approval to implant its device in 10 patients, was negotiating a lower number of patients with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the agency raised safety conce...