Scientists discover an alcohol with a quicker path to sobriety

From the Houston Chronicle blog Sci Guy:

Korean scientists have discovered that increasing the level of dissolved oxygen from 8 parts per million to 25 parts per million in alcohol increases the rate at which the blood alcohol content drops in those who drink.

And

It took about five hours for alcohol levels to reach zero, but the process was 27 minutes faster in those who drank alcohol with the highest concentration of oxygen.

More here.

Now this definitely reminds me of something. Nagging at the back of my brain. What could it be? What could it be? Oh yes, of course, how could I have forgotten?

From Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki:

Synthehol

Synthehol (a portmanteau of "synthesized" and "alcohol") is a chemical variant of alcohol. It appears to have the same taste and smell as "real" alcohol to most individuals, but none of the deleterious effects associated with alcohol for most humanoids, such as debilitating intoxication, addiction, and alcohol poisoning. Most humanoids have an enzyme which breaks down the alcohol-like compounds in synthehol. According to Data, synthehol's "intoxicating effects can be easily dismissed".

More here.

That's right. It reminds me of the Star Trek universe's synthehol. I mean, it really only reminds me of synthehol. The stuff they're experimenting with in Korea sounds like it can still get you as drunk as a skunk, and even though one sobers up more quickly, a half hour doesn't really strike me as being that big of a deal--I've gotten the sense that with synthehol, one can literally splash the face with water and be ready to drive into a crowd of bystanders without hitting anybody. Nonetheless, this new booze is promising. It would be nice, indeed, if they're eventually able to do better than the above mentioned thirty minute difference, to get blasted at a bar, but be sober by bedtime.

More generally, this is yet another reminder that science fiction concepts continue to become reality. In my life I've gotten to see several Star Trek ideas, such as widespread computer use, automatic doors with motion sensors, and communicators, that is, cell phones, move from absolute fiction to concrete reality. What's next? Matter teleportation? Faster than light travel? Holodecks? Sentient computers?

My bet's on the last one. Self-aware computers. Of course, they'll want to take over the world, and, as the Terminator films and Battlestar Galactica have shown us, we don't really want that to happen.

But I just don't see how we can stop it. So, I, for one, welcome our new cyber-overlords.

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