A psychedelic is about to become prescription medicine for the first time since 1970, and the molecule winning the race is the one that kept the trip, even as the smart money bets that trip is a deletable side effect. The deeper claim: these may not be 'mind-manifesting' experiences but psychoplastogens, molecules that physically regrow the brain's withered wiring.

Yamanaka's 2006 discovery showed cell identity is reversible. Today's bet is that you can wind a cell halfway back, recovering youth without erasing identity. The biology of partial reprogramming, the four-billion-dollar race to commercialize it, and what a real win looks like.