Clocking off

IT’S not just all-night raves that make you lose sleep—one of the drugs
on offer could ruin your body clock. Ecstasy could cause permanent jetlag, says
Stephany Biello of the University of Glasgow. Biello says that by rendering
brain cells insensitive to a key chemical messenger called serotonin, ecstasy
makes the brain less responsive to the environmental cues it needs to set its
clock. Repeated use of the drug has also been linked to mood disorders and
depression. At a neuroscience meeting in Brighton this week, Biello warned that
these effects may be irreversible.