Trust in a Bottle, You Say Fluorine; I Say Fluoride, Mr. Pill Goes to Washington

Trust in a bottle

Taking a whiff of the hormone oxytocin could make you more inclined to trust a stranger with your cash, according to a new study (Nature 2005, 435, 673).

Oxytocin is most commonly used to induce labor and aid lactation in new mothers. But researchers have long suspected that the neuropeptide has other roles in human behavior.

Michael Kosfeld, Markus Heinrichs, and coworkers at the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, wanted to see if a dose of oxytocin would enhance trust in a real cash transaction. They recruited 194 male volunteers and assigned them roles as "investors" or "trustees." Investors were given money and three puffs from an inhaler containing either oxytocin or a placebo.

Investors were then given the choice of keeping their cash or giving it to a trustee who can earn interest on the money. While the trustee can share this interest with the investor, he's under no obligation to do so. Nor is the trustee required to return the initial investment, making the deal one that calls for a large degree of trust from the investor.

The researchers found that investors who inhaled oxytocin were far more likely to hand over their cash. Furthermore, the hormone only increased the trusting behavior if the transaction took place between two people. When the researchers used computers as trustees, investors showed no greater willingness to part with their money whether they sniffed oxytocin or not. Oxytocin's effects in the experiment are particularly interesting considering that the experimental subjects are from a notoriously frugal demographic--students.

You say fluorine; I say fluoride

Herbert a. schroeder brought to our attention an editorial that recently appeared in his local newspaper, the Fort Collins Coloradoan. He points out that the "soapbox column," which ran under the headline "Know the dangers of fluoride," could have benefited from C&EN's eagle-eyed editors.

Schroeder notes that the editorial's author seems to have a little trouble distinguishing fluorine from fluoride. One of the author's more confounding chemical assertions is that "the fluoride molecule is a very small and active molecule and is passed rapidly not only through the colon into the bloodstream, but also through the skin. The water used for all our needs, including soup, teas, cooking, and external washing, must be free of chlorine and fluorine as well as other pollutants."

"Among the credentials given by the author is one that states he was a technical adviser for several years at the Environmental Protection Agency," Schroeder writes. "For the EPA's sake, hopefully, this is not the case."

Mr. Pill goes to Washington

Perplexed tourists and weary commuters were greeted by a giant birth control tablet earlier this month at Union Station in Washington, D.C. Planned Parenthood Federation of America brought "Phil the Pill" and his pal the Pill pack to town to celebrate the 40th "birthday of birth control."

Contrary to what C&EN readers might expect, the birthday celebration had nothing to do with the discovery, development, or marketing of the Pill. Rather, the anthropomorphized contraceptives were celebrating the 40th anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Connecticut law that made the use of birth control by married couples illegal.

One could argue that the event had more to do with the brouhaha over birth control that's been in the news recently, rather than any birthday of the Pill. Normally the news would have passed under our radar, since the Newscripts gang prefers to sidestep controversy. Still, we couldn't think of a better way to wrap up this special edition of C&EN than with a picture of a giant, huggable tablet.

This week's column was written by Bethany Halford. Please send comments and suggestions to newscripts@acs.org.