Prof. Peter Allen, a distinguished researcher in a renowned university in Virginia had been working for two decades to find a rapid-acting pain medicine to alleviate the suffering of his patients involved in serious injuries. The chemistry section of his research group would create new molecules, while the biology section would evaluate them on the animal models of pain, especially on mice. The experiments always took place during daytime when the mice, being nocturnal in nature, would be quiet and cooperative. Over the years, Prof. Allen’s research group had some success, but not the spectacular one he wished for. Then, one afternoon, one member of his biology team burst into his office. The excited researcher notified Prof. Allen that all the mice (inside a particular cage) that were administered a recent novel molecule, not only remained wide awake, but also were running around in a state of full alertness throughout the biological experiment, even though the intended experiment of pain-relief was not successful.
Prof. Allen was not sure how to interpret this unexpected observation. And that’s when his next-door colleague Prof. Neil Street, a world-famous sleep researcher walked into his office. Prof. Street, for his own field of expertise, used to house a group of cats, renowned for their naps at any time of the day. He immediately thought of evaluating this new molecule on a selected set of cats, thus requesting a sample. Prof. Allen was happy to oblige his colleague’s request. Over next few days, Prof. Street administered the new compound to a handful of extremely nap-sensitive cats at different times of a day, while the rest of the group followed their daily routine. After the experiments were over, the researcher involved in the study reported to Prof. Street that the drug-administered cats remained awake and alert throughout the day during the experiments, while the control cats took their usual naps.
At the end of the academic session, Prof. Street headed to his summer home in Virginia countryside where he used to maintain a farmland for the growing season. One hot summer afternoon, after a day’s labor, he started to feel fatigued and extremely sleepy. Suddenly, he remembered that this time he had brought home a small sample of that miracle molecule. Like many renowned past scientists spanning our entire human civilization, he decided to do an experiment on himself. He took a dose of the compound without worrying anything about its unknown toxicity including fatality in humans. Not only he survived, he remained awake throughout the remaining period of that long summer afternoon in south.
Thus a breakthrough medicine was born. It would find use in a section of population who has a tendency of dozing off without any warning, while riding a bicycle, driving an automobile, flying an airplane, or operating heavy machinery as well as laughing during social engagements. It improved immensely their quality of life. And along came the myth of its accidental discovery defying various well-defined scientific protocols.
Prof. Allen was not sure how to interpret this unexpected observation. And that’s when his next-door colleague Prof. Neil Street, a world-famous sleep researcher walked into his office. Prof. Street, for his own field of expertise, used to house a group of cats, renowned for their naps at any time of the day. He immediately thought of evaluating this new molecule on a selected set of cats, thus requesting a sample. Prof. Allen was happy to oblige his colleague’s request. Over next few days, Prof. Street administered the new compound to a handful of extremely nap-sensitive cats at different times of a day, while the rest of the group followed their daily routine. After the experiments were over, the researcher involved in the study reported to Prof. Street that the drug-administered cats remained awake and alert throughout the day during the experiments, while the control cats took their usual naps.
At the end of the academic session, Prof. Street headed to his summer home in Virginia countryside where he used to maintain a farmland for the growing season. One hot summer afternoon, after a day’s labor, he started to feel fatigued and extremely sleepy. Suddenly, he remembered that this time he had brought home a small sample of that miracle molecule. Like many renowned past scientists spanning our entire human civilization, he decided to do an experiment on himself. He took a dose of the compound without worrying anything about its unknown toxicity including fatality in humans. Not only he survived, he remained awake throughout the remaining period of that long summer afternoon in south.
Thus a breakthrough medicine was born. It would find use in a section of population who has a tendency of dozing off without any warning, while riding a bicycle, driving an automobile, flying an airplane, or operating heavy machinery as well as laughing during social engagements. It improved immensely their quality of life. And along came the myth of its accidental discovery defying various well-defined scientific protocols.
