Our understanding of how psychedelics work has evolved in meaningful ways over the past several years. While earlier neuroscience frameworks helped move the field forward, newer research has added important nuance and depth to how we interpret brain imaging, network behavior, and subjective experience.

In this episode of The Trip Lab, I offer a refresh on psychedelic neuroscience, focusing on key updates from the past four years and how they change the story we tell about what’s happening in the brain and the body during psychedelic states.

We explore:

• How the Default Mode Network is better understood as dynamically modulated rather than simply reduced
• Why psychedelic brain states are best described as time-varying and network-based rather than static
• How neural entropy is now understood as increased flexibility through relaxed constraints
• Why brain, body, and context are inseparable in shaping psychedelic experiences and outcomes

This episode is designed to update earlier explanations, clarify what has changed, and highlight why the newer neuroscience offers a more accurate and more interesting framework for understanding psychedelic effects.

Microdosing has gone mainstream and is often described as a tool for creativity, mood, productivity, and emotional healing. But what does the science actually say?

In this episode of The Trip Lab, I take an evidence-based look at microdosing psychedelics. We explore what microdosing is, how it differs from full-dose psychedelic therapy, and the proposed neurobiological mechanisms that have been suggested in the literature. I review what current clinical trials and placebo-controlled studies are showing so far, and where the data remains limited or inconclusive.

A central focus of this episode is the placebo response. Rather than treating placebo as “fake” or irrelevant, I explain how expectancy, meaning, belief, and context produce real, measurable changes in the brain and body. We discuss why placebo responses are especially strong in interventions involving consciousness, perception, and mental health, and how this helps explain why many people genuinely feel better with microdosing even when objective outcomes are mixed.

This episode separates enthusiasm from evidence, explores where microdosing may be helpful, where claims get overstretched, and what questions researchers are actively trying to answer next.

If you’re curious about microdosing and want a grounded, medically informed perspective that respects both science and lived experience, this conversation is for you.

Functional medicine testing is everywhere. It is often marketed as “test, don’t guess,” and just as often dismissed as invalidated or unscientific. So what is the truth?

In this episode of The Trip Lab, we take a deep dive into what functional medicine testing actually is, how it differs from traditional laboratory testing, and what clinicians really mean when they say these tests are not “validated.” We explore why some advanced tests can be genuinely helpful when used thoughtfully, where their limitations lie, and why more testing does not always lead to better care.

We walk through several commonly used functional medicine tests that I actually do use in my practice, including DUTCH, GI-MAP, and Organic Acids Testing (OAT), breaking down what each test measures, when it can add value, and … when it might not be helpful as well. We also discuss why I typically don’t recommend mold or environmental toxin testing, and why exposure history and foundational interventions often matter more than identifying a specific toxin.