This article explores an interesting link between a dinosaur extinction meteor and the emergence of magic mushrooms revealed in a new study.

It has been known for a long time that a rock that hit Earth 65 million years ago killed off most of the dinosaurs. The event began a new age for all living things, from plants to animals on Earth.

Psilocybin-producing mushrooms, or “magic mushrooms,” are fungus type that seems to have come from this time. Meanwhile, scientists have found that the Psilocybe genus began to form much earlier than they thought.

The study publication is available in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It showed mushrooms date back to about 65 million years ago. It means that magic mushrooms appeared around the same time a rocket killed all the dinosaurs.

Scientists in the U.S. and other countries have been trying to learn as much about these fungi. However, they are still nationally illegal substances that aren’t thought to have any medical benefits.

Still, Oregon and Colorado have recently made psilocybin therapy legal. Hence, more Americans can use it to get the supposed mental health benefits.

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The new study is essentially a progress report on years of research. They established a goal of obtaining a genome sequence for each Psilocybe-type specimen collected from around the world In 2020. So far, they have sequenced 71 specimens and counting.

According to the study researcher, Alexander Bradshaw, they cannot ignore the importance of collections in such studies. He also said they stand on the shoulders of those who invested thousands of hours of human labor to construct these collections.

However, magic mushrooms are still not available for meditative use, but the new study could help make them more available for medical use.