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The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgamesEARTHDATE: December 13, 2009
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REAL LIFE NEWS: COFFEE DOESN'T SOBER YOU UPby HazedEveryone knows that if you are drunk, imbibing large quantities of strong coffee will sober you up. Except that it doesn't! A new report shows that it doesn't counteract the alcohol at all. Instead, it makes you more feel alert and awake, without actually reducing your drunkenness. As a consequence, you may feel as if you're fit to drive a car or make sensible decisions - but in reality you aren't. The researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia tested how well adult mice were able to find their way around a maze to avoid unpleasant things such as bright lights and loud noises. The mice were dosed up with various combinations of alcohol and caffeine, and their performance in navigating the maze was compared to a control group who were just given a neutral saline solution. As you would expect, alcohol made the animals more relaxed but less able to avoid the nasty shocks. Those given caffeine were not much better at navigation but were more alert and uptight. The mice on the combination of alcohol and caffeine seemed to be fairly alert, and relaxed, but they turned out to be terrible at sidestepping the shocks. The researchers concluded that in humans the combination is likely going to make people feel as if they have sobered up - when in fact they are still drunk. The lead researcher, Dr Thomas Gould, said, "The bottom line is that, despite the appeal of being able to stay up all night and drink, all evidence points to serious risks associated with caffeine-alcohol combinations." |
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