Scientists Experiment With 'Trust' Hormone
By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA
AP Science Writer
It sounds like the plot for another Batman sequel: The villain sprays Gotham City with a trust hormone and people rush to give him all their money. Banks, the stock market and even governments collapse.
Farfetched? Swiss and American scientists demonstrate in new experiments how a squirt of the hormone oxytocin stimulates trusting behavior in humans, and they acknowledge that the possibility of abuse can't be ignored.
'Of course, this finding could be misused,' said Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich, the senior researcher in the study, which appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. 'I don't think we currently have such abuses. However, in the future it could happen.'
Other scientists say the new research raises important questions about oxytocin's potential as a therapy for conditions like autism, in which trust is diminished. Or, perhaps the hormone's activity could be reduced to treat more rare diseases, like Williams syndrome, in which children approach strangers fearlessly."
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2 comments:
I could use this at the poker tables....
That would indeed by a novel and potentially lucrative use of the agent. But you probably don't need it...
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