131. Scientists, Poets and Dissidents with Mike Jay

In this episode of the drug science Podcast, we meet with Mike Jay, author and 2024 Cheiron Book Prize winner who has written extensively on scientific and medical history with a special interest in Psychedelics. In this Podcast, he discusses with us his newest book, Free Radicals: How a Group of Romantic Experimenters Gave Birth to Psychedelic Science, which tells the story of early invention and experimentation with Nitrous Oxide (Laughing gas). He discusses various key figures at this time and the work they conducted, including Humphry Davy and Thomas Beddoes as well as discussing early theories into the potential use of gas in medicine which lead to the development of the Pneumatic Institute. Further, they discuss how this 18th-century research links to the psychedelic renaissance  Free Radicals: How a Group of Romantic Experimenters Gave Birth to Psychedelic ScienceMike Jay AuthorHumphrey Davy Humphry Davy BookThomas Beddoes Joseph Priestley Davis Giddy Miners lung Tuberculosis Michael Pollan Default mode network Mescaline Drug Science Podcast with Mike JayLink in show notes  ★ Support this podcast ★