While most scotch whiskey terminology veers towards the religious, the so-called “water of life” has been subjected to more scientific scrutiny than one might expect. But it's still a work in progress. Earlier this week at the New York Academy of Sciences, Simon Brooking, Master Ambassador for Ardmore and Laphroaig distilleries, appeared in his traditional clan tartan to walk a crowd through the chemistry behind the whiskey.

Alan Gevins and his team at SAM Technology in San Francisco are nearing the end of a large study analyzing the effects of various drugs on cognitive performance. An editor at Technology Review recently visited their offices, and downed a stiff cocktail, to experience their work first-hand.

Here’s a quiz. Out of the jobs below, who do you think is most likely to have alcoholism issues? (Scroll to the bottom to see which industries ranked highest to lowest.)

Construction worker
Financier
Farmer
Truck driver
Cocktail server
Teacher
Shopgirl/guy

Need I state the obvious? A new study by The George Washington University Medical Center did. Their "Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems" team reports this week that 15 percent of those who work in the hospitality industry—bartenders; waiters and waitresses; casino, nightclub, hotel workers—suffer from serious alcohol-related problems. This tops 12 other sectors of employment. Sounds like a problem of freely available booze and late work hours to me.

A new survey of active-duty astronauts and flight surgeons reveals that there's only been one incident of a NASA crew member under the influence of drugs or alcohol leading up to launch day. And on the day itself, the survey reports that nobody had been guilty of excessive drinking or drug use.