31.Robo-petting
Petting a living animal has long
been known to lower blood pressure and release a flood of mood-lifting
endorphins. But for various reasons — you’re at work, or you’re in a hospital,
or your spouse is allergic to dogs — you can’t always have a pet around to
improve your mental health. So researchers at the University of British
Columbia have created something called “smart fur.” It’s weird-looking
(essentially just a few inches of faux fur) but its sensors allow it to mimic
the reaction of a live animal whether you give it a nervous scratch or a slow,
calm rub. Creepy? Yes. But effective.
Clay Risen
32. Sleep better
Researchers at
Merck have created a pill called suvorexant that essentially makes you a
narcoleptic for
a night. It turns out that might be the best cure for insomnia.
Unlike existing sleep aids, the drug (which
will likely be reviewed by the
F.D.A. later this year) works by turning off wakefulness rather than by
inducing sleep. “There’s good reason to believe this pill brings on more R.E.M.
sleep and better rest,”
says Dr. Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford University.
“It’ll be less of a hammer on the brain.”
Howie Kahn
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