Hari tells the pills gave him ability to reach and maintain a very deep concentration which enabled him to read a book for 6 to 7 hours without even looking up. However, he also experienced some drawbacks:

After a while, you realise that your mental life is oddly depleted. Creative thoughts don’t come to you any more. You are running on the imaginative store you built up before Provigil, and whizzing through it efficiently, but you aren’t inventing anything new.

“Fast and flat” is the term Hari uses of the feeling he got when using Modafinil. When he stopped the use his creativeness recovered and thinking was feeling more spontaneous again.

So I have cut a deal with myself. I keep a pack in the bathroom cabinet for the days when I am really knackered and have to be able to work fast and fluently – but I don’t ever take more than one or two a month.

This report gives quite a positive picture of Modafinil on people who do not need it for medical reasons. The full article can be found here.

Stores are filled with different creatine supplement products these days.

In addition to sports performance creatine is also shown promising results on studies where its effects on brain have been tested. For example in the research made in Australian universities creatine was tested with 45 young adult volunteers.

The group that was given creatine supplement instead of placebo for six weeks got better results in a memory test. However, compared to other substances out there, the effects of creatine are minor but they still exist.

So far there has been no demonstration that a long term or short term use of creatine would cause any health risks or side effects. However, the European Food Safety Authorities has stated that high doses of creatine (20 gram per day) should be avoided.

Using creatine to boost brain functionality would be a bit exaggerated, but one thing is sure: it definitely has earned its place as an essential and popular supplement in the field of sports.

When this drug is delivered to special areas of brain, for example the ones holding memory information about spatial knowledge, emotional associations, or motor skills, the functionality of this area is blocked.

This can be considered as a some kind of break trough on the field of neuroscience. If this critical memory molecule can be utilized it could perhaps help to forget chronic fear or a bad habit. Of course if this kind of drug is introduced, it will bring a new wave of ethical issues with it.

Levetiracetam and Piracetam molecyles.

Studies have shown levetiracetam may educe hyperactivity, impulsivity, mood instability, and aggression in autistic children. However, they have not shown it to have nootropic effects.

United States Food & Drug Administration has given permission to sell pills containing 250, 500, 750 and 1000 milligrams of Levetiracetam. Indian Wockhardt Ltd is the sixth largest drug maker in India.

Excessive drinking of coffee may cause hallucinations.

There were 200 students participating in the study. Their stress levels and hallucinations were examined. The students told they had seen non-existent stuff, heard sounds and sensed the spirits of dead people.

Researchers guess the experiences may have something do to with the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol. Under stress the cortisol levels of our body is high, and use of caffeine increases its secretion.

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Ritalin is a smart drug used to treat ADHD.

Professor Harris bases his statement on the facts that people are already prescribed drugs for non-therapeutic reasons, for example Viagra is described for individuals who do not have erectile dysfunction. Using cognitive enhancers in tests should be seen as a benefit to society.

He also says Universities should have policies for using smart drugs during examinations. There side effects on many drugs, both physical and psychical. Also poor children wouldn’t have similar possibility to buy the drugs and thus could lose the competition.

About a week ago American academics wrote a similar article in the scientific journal Nature asking the cognitive enhancing pills to be allowed for use. You can read the original article at Telegraph.co.uk website.

What makes the drink different from other is the ingredient L-Carnitine. L-Carnitine is a natural antioxidant turns fat into energy. With a healthy diet and enough exercise L-Carnitine improves body’s energy production capability and helps to fights stress.

Studies have shown that L-Carnitine has a positive impact on memory, mood, and cognitive ability. In addition to L-Carnitine the new drink also contains taurine, zinc, and vitamins A, C, and E. The drink is available in flavors mango and dalandan.

Macleans.ca interviewed Dr. Jacob Appel, a bioethics lecturer at Brown University in Rhode Island about the subject:

“I’m a strong supporter of individual autonomy and I think people should be able to enhance themselves all they want, but my concern is that employers will try to compel individuals to do that. Eventually, employers will begin to demand that their employees accept neurological enhancement as a condition for employment and promotion—and the working stiffs of the world will not have the financial power to resist.”

The original report, When the boss turns pusher: a proposal for employee protections in the age of cosmetic neurology, can be downloaded from the Journal of Medical Ethics Online as a PDF file.

For the study, researchers gave mice various daily doses of gingko and then induced a stroke. They found that the mice treated with gingko had 51 percent less neurological dysfunction than the mice who didn’t receive gingko. Areas of brain damage decreased by 48 percent in the gingko group.

The results suggest that an element in Ginkgo has properties that can protect brain cells against damage in a stroke. This may be due to Ginkgo increasing enzyme levels that work to remove free radicals around the stroke site.

Imbued with visions of a new, improved me, I visit that conveniently unregulated online pharmacy. Ritalin costs £58 for 10 pills; Modafinil, £10 for 10. No questions asked, no electrocardiograph tests required. … A dodgy package arrives in the post. Wrapped in low-grade manila, wonkily stamped “Mumbai — India”, is a loose strip of 10 x 200mg legit-looking Modafinil pills

After ordering and receiving the package of Modafinil. He pops the Modafinil pill in the morning. After an hour he feels similar boost to his normal caffeine buzz: