The magic happens because psilocybin slows down the senescence, or degradation, of telomeres—the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes that affects aging. Psilocybin is what puts the “magic” in some species of mushrooms (such as Psilocybe cubensis)—when it’s metabolized, it releases the hallucinogen alkaloid psilocin. This knowledge led to the “psilocybin-telomere hypothesis,” which suggests that psilocybin might slow down aging by keeping telomeres longer beyond the point when they would usually start to degrade. The same experiments were carried out on adult human skin cells, and produced similar results. After the success of the in vitro experiments, Kato treated mice with psilocybin once a month over a period of ten months.