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b'As we say goodbye to 2023 and ring in the New Year, this week\\u2019s classic episode is all about the novel.\\nPart 1: Feeling isolated in her new job as a particle accelerator operator at Fermilab, Cindy Joe finds comfort in the friendship of her unconventional pet.\\nThis story originally aired on July 27, 2018 in an episode titled \\u201cLoneliness: Stories about finding friends\\u201d.\\nPart 2: Actor Gail Thomas is invited to take part in a study testing mushrooms as treatment for depression in cancer survivors.\\nThis story originally aired on Dec. 1, 2017 in an episode titled \\u201cPsychotropic Substances: Stories about altered states\\u201d. \\nCindy Joe is an engineering physicist at Fermilab, America\\u2019s particle physics and accelerator laboratory. She got her bachelor\\u2019s degree in physics and became a\\xa0licensed senior nuclear reactor operator at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. After starting at Fermilab, she worked as a particle accelerator operator for seven years\\xa0before taking her current role with several experiments studying neutrinos, tiny particles that might hold the answers to some of the universe\\u2019s biggest mysteries. Cindy\\xa0is a frequent and deeply passionate contributor to Fermilab\\u2019s educational outreach programs and has spoken to audiences from elementary school students to\\xa0members of Congress. \\nGail Thomas has several resumes: writer/actor/teacher/filmmaker/lawyer. She is a Moth StorySLAM winner and has performed with RISK!, Sideshow Goshko, the Liar Show. She teaches for the Story Studio. Voiceover credits include David Letterman, Beavis and Butthead and Angelo Rules. Her short comedy, My BFF, rated 95% funny on Funny or Die and audience favorite at New Filmmakers. As a speechwriter for the Tribeca Film Festival and the Gotham Awards, her words were uttered by Oscar winners and fancy people with great clothes. Gail is currently working on her fashion sense.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'