Want a truth serum? Try testosterone.

[Gahars]

So hey, everyone, welcome back. It's going to take some time to navigate all the nooks and crannies of the new Temp, so how about something a little familiar?

That's right: It's time for science!

So, truth serums have been an old staple of fiction for some time, and it's easy to understand why. Scenes of enhanced interrogation can be as tortuous for the audience as it is for the characters, so a way of skipping that sort of business makes for a handy little plot device.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, take your pick), scientists have struggled to make such a thing a reality. Until now, at least: when it comes to getting the truth, researchers have discovered that testosterone may be the best-osterone.

The results of a new study show that testosterone stimulates positive social behavior through the increase of honesty in male subjects. The hormone has already been associated with higher levels of aggression and criminality. According to a research team from Germany, testosterone could influence positive social behavior, in addition to its already known influences on muscle and libido.

...91 healthy subjects participated in the experimental study. 46 of the patients received a skin-applied testosterone gel, whilst the other 45 subjects received a placebo gel. The research team investigated the causes and effects of the hormone in male patients. The study was double-blind and randomized, therefore neither the subjects, nor the doctors, had any idea about who received placebo and who received the actual testosterone gel.

...The comparison of the two groups revealed that the participants which received the testosterone gel were more likely to tell the truth. Dr Armin Falk, the co-author of the study, notes that the results of their study indicates that previous research which linked higher levels of testosterone to an anti-social behavior had a wrong one-dimensional approach.

Doctor Tipster

So, while it may turn males into libido fueled muscle men, at least we're honest libido fueled muscle men. And in the end, isn't that what counts the most?

Now, we're obviously far away from a testosterone fueled truth serum, but it will be interesting to see how scientists build upon this research. We may finally say good bye to water boarding - and welcome bench pressing in its place.

 

[narutofan777]

umm i dont think this would be useful against terrorists. so what if they tell the truth they will be behind bars for the rest of their lives and will be in gitmo forever.

 

[Gahars]

Because there's no value in gaining information about their plans, their allies, etc.?

 

[Sterling]

It might work on untrained operatives, but trained people on the other hand... I mean, we are obviously far enough away from a real serum, but at this point I think torture will be still the best method for information extraction. If they do develop it, then great, that's one more nail in the coffin for ever using torture which I detest.

 

[Rydian]

Well, "I wanna' fuck" is pretty honest...

 

[Skelletonike]

I remember I posted something similar regarding this on the SB a few days before the temp went down, although it was from a dif source, this was the one I showed to the people that were there at the time: Source


It's about the same news however I found that funny because I was talking about manly men at the time (which is what the source I used mentions as well). xP
So yeah, too bad for you Dinoh. =3

 

[chavosaur]

Really neat and all, but it will mostly be like a polygraph test wont it? Minus havimg to read changes in heart rate and stuff, but rather the subject still has to be willing to submit to such a test. Plus, I am sure this would have different effects on different people.

 

[DinohScene]

I remember I posted something similar regarding this on the SB a few days before the temp went down, although it was from a dif source, this was the one I showed to the people that were there at the time: Source


It's about the same news however I found that funny because I was talking about manly men at the time (which is what the source I used mentions as well). xP
So yeah, too bad for you Dinoh. =3

You just had to mention me didn't you?
Something testosterone related and you immediately mention me as the perfect example of the opposite of it ;p

<3 you too Skellie