caffeine

Though caffeine is always ripe for scientific inquiry; in recent months, researchers have grown seemingly obsessed with the drug. So, in the midst of stories about coffee reducing the risk of diabetes and the proper way to optimize your caffeine intake, a study analyzing the role of that beloved aroma was bound to appear sooner or later. And lo and behold, an international team of scientists has done just that by exposing sleep-deprived rats to the sweet smell of java and recording the results.

As a species, we´ve hit the bedtime barrier. You can eat at your desk, socialize in the break room, and answer text messages on a date, but sooner or later, you´re going to have to sleep. â€After 18, 19 hours awake, your brain function starts to fail,†says Dallas, Texas, sleep-medicine specialist Andrew O. Jamieson. Coffee might keep you up, â€but you´re not going to be focused.â€