![]() ![]() It’s a prescription drug in the UK, though it’s not approved for medical use by the US Food and Drug Administration and can’t be sold as a dietary supplement either. Today piracetam is a favourite with students and young professionals looking for a way to boost their performance, though decades after Giurgea’s discovery, there still isn’t much evidence that it can improve the mental abilities of healthy people. Giurgea immediately recognised the significance of his findings, and coined the term “nootropic”, which combines the Greek words for “mind” and “bending”. ![]() When patients took it for at least a month, it led to substantial improvements to their memories. Piracetam did have one intriguing side-effect, however. The drug didn’t send anyone into a restful slumber and seemed to work in the opposite way to that intended. It was safe, it had very few side effects – and it didn’t work. After months of testing, he came up with “Compound 6215”. At the time, he was looking for a chemical that could sneak into the brain and make people feel sleepy. The original “smart drug” is piracetam, which was discovered by the Romanian scientist Corneliu Giurgea in the early 1960s. ![]() To answer these questions, first we need to get to grips with what’s on offer. Will this new batch of intellectual giants lead to dazzling, space-age inventions? Or perhaps an explosion in economic growth? Might the working week become shorter, as people become more efficient? It seems as though we may soon all be partaking – and it’s easy to get carried away with the consequences. One recent survey involving tens of thousands of people found that 30% of Americans who responded had taken them in the last year. In fact, some of these so-called “smart drugs” are already remarkably popular. The latest generation has been experimenting with a new range of substances, which they believe will supercharge their mental abilities and help them get ahead. For centuries, all workers have had to get them through the daily slog is boring old caffeine. ![]()
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