Tourette’s! It’s hilarious isn’t it? Electric Spectre have it and love it, but for those of you who don’t find screaming ‘Guntmuncher’ at a 64 yar old lady in church refreshing, science can help! According to the BMC science journal, magnetic imaging of sufferers shows unusual behaviour in the frontostriatal lobes, meaning a drug can now be constructed to control these areas and cut out the potty-mouthing.
And of course, a drug that can be used to shut down or light up targeted areas of the frontal lobes would have NO OTHER USE WHATSOEVER, our overlord informs us.
LINK(Eurakalert)
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February 16, 2009 – 6:07 pm
I always find that remembering what I had for breakfast is trial enough, but for those readers suffering from bad memories (You know the ones- sat through ‘The Spirit’. Made to stay with ‘uncle’ Barnaby etc etc) it turns out that common heart drugs may have the ability to cheer you right up, eternal sunshine fashion (though not, unfortunately, to make me forget sitting through that movie). In recent tests, the beta blocker propranolol was shown to alter the way subjects recalled traumatic experiences. Before the US citizens among you swap your Zanex out though, remember that this stuff also affects good memories, And according to Dr Daniel Sokol, lecturer in Medical Ethics at St George’s, University of London;
“Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories. It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity.”
So, while this may lead to early onset Alzheimer’s , reduced IQ, heart conditions and possibly anal leakage too, it’s got to be easier than dealing with that recent valentines break-up right? Ain’t science wonderful?
LINK (ns)
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December 24, 2008 – 10:10 am
Been wondering where the Bees have been disappearing to? It seems likely their either in bed with one of those ‘kidney-punch’ hangovers, or hiding out, shamed of who they woke up next to. In an experiment which we are filing under ‘bloody pointless’, science today tells us that Bees on coke behave pretty much the same way we do. Yep that’s right, bad dancing and worse chat-up lines. For some stupid reason, Dr Andrew Barron of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, took it upon himself to coke some Bees up and watch them wiggle about. He then took perverse joy (Possibly- advice from our lawyers is pending on this statement) in watching the stripy fiends go cold turkey. According to the good doctor, the Bees danced ‘more energetically’ when dabbed with coke:
“This is a specialized form of communication to tell their nest mates about the rewards they have found.”
Rather like passing the word on the neighborhood crack dealer then. Given the fact that Bees lack gums, ES questions the usefulness of this research, but is pleased to find crap like this making it into the John Carpenter-esque Journal of Experimental Biology.
LINK (Guardian)
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November 21, 2008 – 4:16 am
Good news if you're the kind of fun loving gad-about-town who enjoys shared intravenous drug use and unprotected sex (Because it totally ruins the experience for me..can't we do it without...just this once...) as a new drug that radically improves your chances of not getting the AIDS goes to major trial. Apparently pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP works using existing HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) drugs and with a vaccine looking increasingly unlikely in the short term, it's ability to lower the risk by up to two thirds is a pretty attractive prospect. Bob Grant, who researches HIV prevention at the University of California, speculates that some users may even have less unsafe sex.
"PrEP might put people in a different frame of mind," he says. "When people take a pill a day, that reminds them that they are at risk of catching HIV."
Alternatively, you could just wear a rubber, and avoid the kind of syphillic fever dreams that constantly plague the staff here at Spectre towers.
LINK
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