The story of endorphinsâthe bodyâs own morphine.
âFascinating.â -- The New Yorker
The exciting story of the race to discover endorphinsâopiate-like chemicals in the brainâand their links to:
drug addiction
runnerâs high
appetite control
sexual response
mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia
In late 1973, scientists John Hughes and Hans Kosterlitz spent the majority of their time in an underfunded, obscure, and cramped laboratory in Aberdeen, Sweden. While working on the brains of pigs, the duo discovered a nonaddictive narcotic chemical that they hoped to later find in human brains. If they could isolate this chemical in humans, perhaps they could find a way to help the world begin to heal itself. Hughes and Kosterlitzâs research would inevitably lead them to discover endorphins, the bodyâs own natural morphine and the chemical that makes it possible to feel both pain and pleasure.
Announcing their findings to the scientific world thrust Hughes and Kosterlitz in the spotlight and made them celebrities. Soon, scientists all over the world were hastily examining the human brain and its endorphins. In a few yearsâ time, they would use the teamâs initial research to link endorphins to drug addiction, runnerâs high, appetite control, sexual response, and mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.
In Anatomy of a Scientific Discovery, Jeff Goldberg describes Hughes and Kosterlitzâs lives before, during, and after their historic and scientific breakthrough. He also takes a look at the bigger picture, revealing the brutal competition between drug companies to find a way to cash in on this monumental discovery.