smoking

Trouble for psychedelic toads

August 22, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Back in the 1960s, it was discovered that secretions from toads native to the Sonoran Desert have psychedelic properties. The information did not have much impact for over 40 years but about ten years ago, the story started having widespread exposure in U.S. media outlets and there was increasing publicity for the fact that the toad’s dried secretions could be smoked to produce a brief but intense high.

There was also a false narrative spreading around that this so-called toad medicine was part of an ancient practice of indigenous tribes in the Sonoran Desert. The active agent in the toad secretion is a compound called 5-MeO-DMT and it became an increasingly popular item being sold by self-described shamans, new-age healers, and other underground practitioners.

5-MeO-DMT is mostly banned as a controlled substance in the U.S., but many Mexican ranchers have been amassing the toads to sell to foreigners to take back home. Despite the fact that 5-MeO-DMT has been successfully synthesized, the mystique surrounding the toads makes potential users want to use the natural version.

Researchers have found that trapping the toads in Mexico has decimated several populations of the amphibians and has sent others into steep decline. The species currently has no protections in Mexico. These desert toads play key roles as both predators and prey and as their population declines, there are likely to be some serious ecological problems. There is already anecdotal evidence that in many places in the desert, crop-eating insect populations have surged in recent years.

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These Toads Have Psychedelic Powers, but They’d Prefer to Keep It Quiet

Photo, posted December 12, 2017, courtesy of K.S. Black via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Deep Learning And Dirty Air | Earth Wise

May 6, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Poor air quality is a major global problem. According to the World Health Organization, exposure to air pollution is linked to the premature deaths of an estimated seven million people every year. In fact, 9 out of 10 people breathe air that contains more pollutants than what the WHO considers safe. Air pollution is the fourth largest threat to human health, trailing only high blood pressure, dietary risks, and smoking.

But predicting pollution levels at a given place and time remains challenging. According to a new study recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, scientists are turning to deep learning to improve air quality estimates.

According to researchers, satellite observations and ground observations both measure air pollution, but both have major limitations. For example, satellites may collect data at the same time and at the same location each day, but they miss how emissions may vary throughout the day. Ground-based observations from weather stations do continuously collect data, but they only do so in a limited number of locations.

As a result, scientists have turned to deep learning – a type of machine learning – to analyze the relationship between satellite and ground-based observations of nitrogen dioxide around Los Angeles. Nitrogen dioxide is associated with emissions from traffic and power plants. The researchers were able to rely on the learned relationship to take daily satellite observations and create hourly estimates of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide levels in approximately three mile grids.

According to the research team, this study could be repeated for other greenhouse gases, and applied to different cities and regions – or even whole continents.

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Scientists turn to deep learning to improve air quality forecasts

Air Pollution

Photo, posted November 4, 2019, courtesy of Ninara via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Pedaling For Clean Air

June 27, 2017 By EarthWise

Poor air quality is a problem all around the world. Exposure to air pollution is linked to the premature deaths of an estimated 6.5 million people every year, making it the fourth largest threat to human health, trailing only high blood pressure, dietary risks, and smoking.

India’s Air Pollution

May 3, 2017 By EarthWise

Poor air quality is a major problem worldwide. Exposure to air pollution is linked to the premature deaths of an estimated 6.5 million people every year. This makes air pollution the fourth largest threat to human health, trailing only high blood pressure, dietary risks, and smoking.