首页
登录
职称英语
Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Samrter? It depends on what i
Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Samrter? It depends on what i
游客
2023-07-27
47
管理
问题
Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Samrter?
It depends on what is meant by "happy" and "smart."
There are already drugs that brighten moods, like Prozac, and other antidepressants that control levels of a brain chemical called serotonin. While originally meant to treat depression, these drugs have been used for other psychological conditions like shyness and anxiety and even by otherwise healthy people to feel better about themselves.
But is putting people in a better mood really making them happy? People can also drown their sorrows in alcohol or get a euphoric feeling using narcotics, but few people who do so would be called truly happy.
The President’s Council on Bioethics said in a recent report that while antidepressants might make some people happier, they can also substitute for what can truly bring happiness: a sense of satisfaction with one’s identity, accomplishments and relationships.
"In tike pursuit of happiness human beings have always worried about falling for the appearance of happiness and missing its reality," the council wrote. It added, "Yet a fraudulent happiness is just what the pharmacological management of our mental lives threatens to confer upon us."
Now the race is on to develop pills to make people smarter, at least in one sense. These drugs, several of them already in clinical trials, aim at memory loss that occurs in people with Alzheimer’s disease or a precursor called mild cognitive impairment.
But it is lost on no one that if a memory drug works and is safe, it may one day be used by healthy people to learn faster and remember longer.
Studies have already shown that animals can be made to do both whelk the activity of certain genes is increased or decreased. Dr. Tom ’Fully, a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, created genetically engineered fruit flies that he said had "photographic memory." In one session, he said, they could learn something that took normal flies 10 sessions.
"It immediately convinced everyone that memory was going to be just another biological process," Dr. Tully said. "There’s nothing special about it. That meant that it was going to be treatable and manip-ulable."
But experts say that improving memory will not necessarily make one smarter, in the sense of I.Q. , let alone in wisdom. "It would be a mistake to think that drugs that have an impact on memory necessarily will have an effect on intelligence," said Dr. Daniel L. Schachter, chairman of psychology at Harvard.
Dr. Tully, who is also acting chief scientific officer of Helicon Therapeutics, which is developing memory pills, agreed. "You don’t think better than you did before,’ he said. "You just get the facts in with less practice. ’ Still, he said, that would be significant help to students at exam time.
Any pill used widely by healthy people to improve memory would have to be extremely safe, so that the risks would not outweigh the benefit. Psychological side effects also remain a possibility.
"Is it a good thing to remember everything?" Dr. Tully asked. Could a brain too crammed with information suffer some sort of overload?
Dr. Joe Z. Tsien, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton who genetically engineered smarter mice a few years ago, says he is skeptical that the results can be transferred to people.
"If you look at how people improve their brain power, it’s through education," he said. "That has proven to have 100 percent efficiency with minimal side effects." [br] Dr. Tully is also acting chief technological officer of Helicon Therapeutics.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
文章的第十一段的首句中说到 Dr. Tully 是 chief scientific officer。
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/2872797.html
相关试题推荐
Sincewearesocialbeings,thequalityofourlivesdependsinlargemeasur
Sincewearesocialbeings,thequalityofourlivesdependsinlargemeasur
Sincewearesocialbeings,thequalityofourlivesdependsinlargemeasur
Sincewearesocialbeings,thequalityofourlivesdependsinlargemeasur
Sincewearesocialbeings,thequalityofourlivesdependsinlargemeasur
Isthecustomeralwaysright?Theanswer,itseems,dependsonwhichcountry
Isthecustomeralwaysright?Theanswer,itseems,dependsonwhichcountry
Isthecustomeralwaysright?Theanswer,itseems,dependsonwhichcountry
Isthecustomeralwaysright?Theanswer,itseems,dependsonwhichcountry
Successinschooloratwork____________(与其说是靠天资,还不如说是靠勤奋)depends/reliesmoreo
随机试题
水循环过程()降雨()[br]被土壤吸收()雨滴()N、M
PASSAGEONE[br]Whatismostprobablytheauthor’scareer?Anewsreporter.根据第3段
CreativeDestructionofHigherEducationA)Highereducation
下列含氧酸中,酸性最强的是()。A. B.HClO C.HBrO D.
问题: (1)请对上述教学目标的表述进行评价和修改。 (2)初中生物学课
A.椭圆 B.两条平行直线 C.抛物线 D.双曲线
在交谈中使用的语言不标准不规范,会使人误解,令交谈无法顺利进行,导致不良的后果,
期货从业人员与投资者或所在机构发生纠纷而无法自行合理解决的,可以按照规定的程序,
下列哪些是抗血小板药A、阿司匹林 B、尿激酶 C、叶酸 D、华法林 E、
劳动行政部门自收到集体合同文本之日起()内未提出异议的,集体合同即行生效。
最新回复
(
0
)