#2403 - Andrew Gallimore

Andrew Robert Gallimore (born 1980 or 1981; age ~45–46 years), also known by his handle Alien Insect , is a British computational neurobiologist , chemist , pharmacologist , and writer specializing in psychedelic drugs, particularly N,N-dimethyltryptamine ( DMT ). He is a historical scholar of DMT and resides in Japan , where he works as a PostDoc in the Computational Neuroscience Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) . He maintains the personal website buildingalienworlds.com , where he publishes articles and information on psychedelics, DMT research, and related topics. Gallimore is renowned for his interdisciplinary research on psychedelics, including the development of extended-state DMT (DMTx) with Rick Strassman , and his books exploring the neuroscience and implications of these substances. Gallimore has authored several books: ''Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game'' (2019) ''Reality Switch Technologies: Psychedelics as Tools for the Discovery and Exploration of New Worlds'' (2022) ''Death by Astonishment: Confronting the Mystery of the World’s Strangest Drug'' (2025) From a young age, Andrew Gallimore exhibited a profound fascination with supernatural phenomena , particularly the "holy trinity" of ghosts , vampires , and werewolves , which captivated his imagination during his childhood. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) As a boy, he frequently experienced a peculiar sensation of something otherworldly hovering just out of sight in his left field of vision, though he never had direct encounters with these entities. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) To satisfy his curiosity, Gallimore immersed himself in stories and literature about these eerie creatures that lurked in the shadows, turning his interest in the occult into a sustained hobby that persisted through his early years. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) This childhood intrigue was further highlighted by a family anecdote involving his mother, who consulted a clairvoyant that claimed "little Andrew" possessed the ability to communicate with the spirit world. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) Gallimore, even at a young age, approached such assertions with skepticism, questioning his mother's credence in the psychic's words. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) Despite his budding cynicism, these formative experiences with the supernatural sowed the seeds for his later transition to scientific exploration, as the unexplained sensations from his youth echoed in subsequent encounters with altered states, ultimately steering him toward rigorous inquiry into consciousness and otherworldly perceptions. [](https://archives.boulderweekly.com/features/weed-between-the-lines/dmt-living-in-an-alien-world-and-we-dont-even-know-it/) Andrew Gallimore pursued his initial academic training at the University of Cambridge , where he earned a master's degree in chemical pharmacology. This program provided him with a foundational understanding of drug mechanisms , receptor interactions , and the pharmacological effects of chemical substances on biological systems , equipping him with essential tools for later investigations into psychoactive compounds . Following his master's , Gallimore completed a PhD in biological chemistry at the University of Cambridge in 2006, with a thesis titled "The Biogenesis of Terrestrial and Marine Polycyclic Ethers.