Marcelo Leite, PhD is a science journalist and book author based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is a columnist with Folha de S.Paulo, the daily newspaper that publishes his blog Virada Psicodélica (psychedelic turnabout). Marcelo dedicated most of his career to stories about genetics, ecology, evolution, Brazilian Indigenous peoples, the Amazon Forest and climate change, mainly. After a decade as editor at Folha’s Science desk, he spent a sabbatical year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 1997/98. Upon his return to Brazil, he did a PhD in Social Sciences at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). His thesis about the discourse and hype around the Human Genome Project was published in 2007 under the title “Promessas do Genoma” (genome’s promises). In 2017 he covered MAPS’ conference Psychedelic Science in Oakland, CA and since then plant medicines and mind-altering substances became his main subject as a journalist. In 2021 his book “Psiconautas – Viagens com a Ciência Psicodélica Brasileira” (Psychonauts – Trips with Brazilian Psychedelic Science) was published by Fósforo Editora. Marcelo is now dedicated to research for a book on jurema-preta (Mimosa tenuiflora), a DMT-containing plant endemic in Brazil’s Northeast at the center of a popular religion in the region, Jurema Sagrada. He sits in the Advisory Board of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, and often publishes articles with them.