The next greatinnovation waiting to happen in the booming space of mocktails and nonalcoholic drinks is to replicate the buzz of booze without the actual alcohol.
State of play: That's exactly what a company called GABA Labs says it's close to doing.
The company is aiming to commercialize a molecule it's dubbed Alcarelle, which is "meant to deliver a version of alcohol's pleasant, relaxing high without the downsides," Bloomberg reports.
How it works: "At its core, the idea is to amplify the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter that, in lay terms, carries chemical messages to your nerve cells telling your brain to chill out," according to the report.
"The molecule aims to bind to a GABA receptor, increasing the flow of negative ions that inhibit neuronal activity."
Yes, but: University of Missouri professor and psychologist Kenneth Sher said GABA's challenge will be to deploy the molecule without side effects such as drowsiness and memory loss, which, as Bloomberg notes, "sound quite a bit like getting wasted."
