science

Koch told me that for years he has swallowed your standard Fleischmann's dry yeast before he drinks, stirring the white powdery substance in with some yogurt to make it more palatable.

"One teaspoon per beer, right before you start drinking."

Although David Nutt — the British psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist specializing in the research of drugs — has seen his fair share of controversy, he appears to be a genius. With his team at Imperial College London, he is pioneering what is being hailed as a serious revolution in health: a drug that offers the positive effects of being drunk, but without the health risk, or the hangover.

Room J-407, on the fourth floor of London South Bank university's main block, is an elaborate set, built at a cost of £20,000 by the psychology department; a lab bar, where customers are guinea pigs and the contents of bottles are definitely not what it says on the label. As for its cheery bar staff, they are all psychology students researching the effects of alcohol on behaviour.