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> Now, three completely independent cultures have reported the same specific type of hallucination, and two cases are attributed to the same DNA-verified mushroom species. That indicates that these bizarre psychological effects aren't cultural manifestations or coincidences—they must have a shared underlying chemical and neurological basis.

Rubroboletus sinicus is another species under investigation. Another bolete.

The Chinese Daoist Ge Hong also wrote in Baopuzi around 300 CE about this effect from a mushroom and it seems to be common knowledge in pockets of China. Mushrooms that have this effect are collectively called xiǎo rén rén.

I also found this bit funny from the Wikipedia:

> In 2023, Lanmaoa asiatica received international media attention after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was reported to have eaten a dish that contained it during an official visit to China. Yellen stated that the dish had been thoroughly cooked, and she experienced no ill effects (hallucinations).

> Mushrooms that have this effect are collectively called xiǎo rén rén.

"Little people people" or does the second rén have a different meaning here?

It's funny how the Wikipedia article call hallucinations "ill effects". I am yet to hear people call caffeine effects "ill effects". People and their sociocultural biases, uh?
The researchers seem pretty convinced that this mushroom causes the hallucinations yet they do not describe trying it out in an experiment.

Surely the most straightforward way is to undercook the mushrooms and run a blind controlled experiment where participants eat the shrooms and report on hallucinations.

What stopped them?

> the trips it produces are unusually long, commonly lasting one to three days after an onset of 12 to 24 hours, and in some cases even causing hospital stays of up to a week. Because of the extraordinarily long duration of these trips and the chance for prolonged side effects such as delirium and dizziness, Domnauer has yet to try the raw mushrooms himself.

> These mega-trips might help to explain why people in China, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea do not seem to have a tradition of purposefully seeking out L. asiatica for its psychoactive effects, according to Domnauer's findings. "It was always just eaten for food," Domnauer says, with hallucinations being an unexpected side-effect.

From when this same story was covered in January

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260121-the-mysterious-m...

> What stopped them?

This would be impossible to get past ethical review in any institution who has such a thing. You'd be forcing people to have a trip, which may or may not be pleasant for them, for days, with no guidance on wtf is happening to them. Depending on the person, that's some pretty heavy trauma.

You could tell people what to expect, but that ruins the blind part. I still think you'd have no chance of passing review anyway.

Do you volunteer?

3 day non stop trip sounds .. not great, if it ain't great.

Maybe the prospect of seeing tiny people? Stops me!
I assume knowlege of the experiment could influence the outcome.

I think you would have to dose people without knowledge of that phenomenon

They might be neurotoxic.
> What stopped them?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_committee

Whenever I hear these stories about multiple cultures having the same hallucination, I think that we have to give some weight to the possibility that the little people are real and the mushrooms just let us see them.
These are pretty famous mushrooms in China. Right now Yunnan mushroom hot pot is all the rage, basically in every city in the country. It's also led to lots of tourists in Yunnan wandering around foraging for wild mushrooms. The problem is that there's hundreds of different types of mushrooms with varying levels of toxicity, and unless you grew up in the area and know what you're doing it's easy to get mixed up. There's plenty of videos on chinese social media of people giggling in hospital beds geeked out their gourds pointing at little people.
Those who have used DMT often talk about machine elves. I imagine there is a part of the brain that specifically recognizes humanoid figures even in the distance that is getting overstimulated.
I bet there is some mushroom species in Europe as well that contains that substance. All those stories about dwarfs, trolls etc. and especially in woody area's, they must have come from somewhere.
> One person told me that while they were eating soup, the little people were jumping off their spoon into the bowl and swimming around. As they scooped a bite, the little people remained in their mouth.

There’s definitely scope for a horror story here…

its a hot online topic when talking about YunNan province of china.its a land of all kinds of mushrooms/(and bugs). If you eat mushroom hotpot in there, the waiter will lock the pot and put a timer on the table, before the time limit hit, you cannot open and eat..cooks long time helps reduce the chance of position.

this tv show ( meet youself, cast by Liu yifei, who also played Mulan(2020)) has a short part is about the 'tiny people': https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jVoza_qE3ww

I think this is so fascinating because the hallucinations sound unlike anything else produced by psychedelics and other psychoactive substances, so I really look forward to learning what the mechanism is.

From the stories I've read it also doesn't sound people are experiencing outright delirium although the experience can probably be pretty stressful if you don't know what is happening.

Half of the plot of Common Side Effects :)
Most of weird European and Middle Eastern legends and fairy tales originate from drugs or encountering real artifacts or phenomenons which they couldn't explain. Look up how cyclops appeared in mythology.
Wondering if the hallucination also occurs to other animals?

Would dogs taking the L. asiatica see little humans or little dogs? Probably neither, but then does that mean the fungus had targeted humans genetically?

Does it work on other animals? Do they see tiny people or tiny cats?
The interesting thing is how any drug has such a specific "tiny people" effect, and what that says about how our brain works. The fact that many people report the same thing seems to imply there is a common cause based on how our perceptual system works - a separation of classification/identification (it's a person) from size determination. There seems to be a similar effect in very young children who think they can sit on a tiny dollhouse chair, or in a tiny toy car.

I wonder how specific this "tiny people" effect is - is it just tiny people, or also tiny animals, or maybe distorted size perception in general (with the tiny people being the most noticeable part of that)?

Somewhere there are tiny people going "Don't let the giants eat those mushrooms!"
I can't wait until this compound is identified and available somewhere (incl. black markets). I would love to try it just out of curiosity.
I once spoke with a family member who was experiencing hallucinations of little people at the moment. So I guess if you want to experience this at home you can try giving yourself a head wound. Not as active or vivid as described I think though, they just said that the little people were hanging out up in curtains peering at us.
Domnauer is overstating the "little people" effect here. Seeing miniaturized people seems to be only one of several manifestations associated with these mushrooms. This Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogenic_bolete_mushroom) is a lot more informative. To me, it sounds like it could actually be a serotonergic substance, but it's not clear. I hope they find the active constituent!
It's an evolutionary curiosity that their DNA study identified 17 species within the genus Lanmoa, but L. asiatica was the only species which produces this hallucinatory effect.

There are several very commonly found boletes within the genus Lanmoa in the US, including L. pseudosensibilis and the "Bouillon Bolete" L. rubissima.

Annoyingly misleading title. From the article:

Lilliputian hallucinations predate this mushroom. There are myths about tiny people in pretty much every culture's folklore. People have also reported these hallucinations from alcohol withdrawal, dementia, macular degeneration and other neurological conditions. So, it seems like this phenomenon is fundamental to how the human mind and brain work, but we don't know what causes it or how to treat it.

That's what makes this mushroom different — it reliably produces this effect

I can imagine the packaging of it being sold commercially
What about DMT and a laser experiment?

The Unexplained Laser Experiment That Breaks Reality

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W5YiFEghnrw

That's nice. Why the hell is it on phys.org? I don't want to see damn drug stuff on a physical science site. Not even "non-psychedelic" pharmakinetics.
This means it's possible that commonly depicted clothing of gnomes and elves in art first originated from people seeing them and then drawing it!
Nothing like that in Europe? Explain gnomes and ferries.
I've often wondered if the fairies and leprechauns of Ireland and the pixies of Cornwall were due to some psychoactive mushroom people used to eat.
The Hippy in me: "let's meet our new friends."

The CEO in me: "I need hundreds of think pads."

When sparkies complain about "angry pixies" in the breaker panel, that's not what they mean.
I thought they were specifically called the machine elves, or is that a different shared hallucination?
I'm surprised they sent it for analysis and no one just ate one to check for hobbits...
Ha! No way. So fun! So, anyways, my friend is asking where can I buy some.
Goddamn ant men. Can't get rid of 'em.
I’m curious—do the people who have eaten these mushrooms see the same kind of "tiny people," or is "tiny people" just another name for the hallucination?
Babe wake up, a new psychedelic drug just dropped.
Awesome