The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has come up with a nasal spray for monkeys that lets them shake off sleepiness. Not only are they as alert and smart as well-rested monkeys, but PET scans of their brains show 'wide-awake' patterns of activity.
The active ingredient is orexin A, a brain hormone.
There don't seem to be major problems with the sleep-be-gone spray: but it's early days.
My guess is that, once this stuff starts getting used on college campuses*, we'll find out what function dreams serve. And, why it's not a good idea to turn them off.
* My guess is that it's America's college students who will first try to remove sleep from their schedule. I see two groups involved:
- Scholars, who think they'll get an extra eight hours of study each night
- College kids, who see an opportunity to party 24-7, literally
2 comments:
Unfortunately, mass marketing of orexin-a is not economically feasible. The stuff costs $500-700 per milligram!
Carrie
Carrie,
Good point!
Thanks for your contribution.
Brian, aka Nanoc, aka Norski
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