Scientists identify mushroom linked to visions of hundreds of tiny, colourful humans

For nearly a century, people living thousands of miles apart have described a bizarre experience after eating certain wild mushrooms: seeing dozens or even hundreds of tiny, brightly dressed human figures moving through the real world. Now, researchers have identified a mushroom species linked to these unusual visions in China and the Philippines. According to a report published by ScienceDaily, researchers at the University of Utah used DNA sequencing to identify the fungus as Lanmaoa asiatica. However, the chemical responsible for the hallucinations remains unknown.The findings, published in the journal Mycologia, offer new evidence that the remarkably similar experiences reported in different regions may have a biological explanation. They also reopen a scientific mystery that researchers struggled to solve for decades.A strange phenomenon reported across continentsThe visions are known as Lilliputian hallucinations, a term referring to the perception of miniature people or other tiny figures. The name comes from Lilliput, the fictional land inhabited by tiny people in Jonathan Swift’s novel 'Gulliver’s Travels'.People experiencing these hallucinations have described miniature f...