Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Viagra For Your Brain

By Simon Usborne
Source: The Independent UK


Do you face a mid-afternoon lull that even a double espresso cannot break? Is jet lag the bane of your life, or does that pile of revision seem insurmountable? Or perhaps you're just fed up yawning your way out of the pub at 9.30pm. Whether modern life leaves you struggling to keep up or just totally exhausted, the answer could be as simple as popping a pill.


Using drugs to improve performance in sport is nothing new – expect doping to be a hot topic at this summer's Beijing Olympics – but what about pills that do nothing to enhance biceps, glutes, or abs, and instead target the body's most powerful "muscle" – the brain?


The idea that pills could boost memory or allow weary workers to put in 24-hour shifts evokes the dystopia of Aldous Huxley's 1932 science-fiction novel Brave New World, in which humanity depends on a government-prescribed "happy" drug called Soma.


Some scientists are warning that a generation of artificially enhanced thinkers could soon become science-fact, as an increasing number of people, from stockbrokers and soldiers to students and shelf-stackers, look for something more effective than caffeine to boost performance.


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