Doping Scandal Rocks the Science World

Nature released the results of an online survey in which 20 percent of respondents, largely drawn from the scientific community, admitted to using brain-enhancing drugs like Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Provigil (modafinil).

Sixty-two percent of the scientists who had taken drugs used Ritalin while 44 percent reported using Provigil and only 14 percent had tried beta blockers like propranolol.

The 1,427-person survey was launched after a duo of articles this winter touched off a storm of questions about widespread neuroenhancer use by the scientific community.

The enhanced eggheads reported side effects including sleeplessness, jitteriness, anxiety, and headaches.

But the poll also revealed that most boffins have no problem with their competitors obtaining a chemical advantage. Four in five said healthy adults should be allowed to turbo charge their own brain if they want to.

Boffinry's - and indeed the public's - fancy for personal enhancement is nothing new, of course.

In 2006, Sir David King, then the UK government's top scientific advisor, briefed ministers at Downing Street on what was dubbed "cosmetic neurology". He warned that regulators will have to be ready for an explosion in public interest in the concept over the next 20 years.

In November, the British Medical Association attempted to kickstart debate on the ethics around mental meddling. "It should be remembered that people are willing to endure major surgery to enhance their visual appearance, so they may be willing to do so to improve their cognitive ability as well, if the techniques prove to be effective," the doctors' group said.

For those who choose to use, methylphenidate was the most popular: 62% of users reported taking it. 44% reported taking modafinil, and 15% said they had taken beta blockers such as propanolol, revealing an overlap between drugs. 80 respondents specified other drugs that they were taking. The most common of these was adderall, an amphetamine similar to methylphenidate. But there were also reports of centrophenoxine, piractem, dexedrine and various alternative medicines such as ginkgo and omega-3 fatty acids.

The most popular reason for taking the drugs was to improve concentration. Improving focus for a specific task (admittedly difficult to distinguish from concentration) ranked a close second and counteracting jet lag ranked fourth, behind 'other' which received a few interesting reasons, such as “party”, “house cleaning” and “to actually see if there was any validity to the afore-mentioned article”.