The ability to separate truths from falsehoods has long evaded humanity: We’re prone to lying when it behooves us, and we do a poor job of recognizing when we’re the ones being lied to. Even police officers and other specialists trained in the detection of deceit fall short about as often as the average person.
One sought-after solution is the fabled “truth serum,” a generic term for any drug that renders its recipient incapable of telling a lie. Currently, no such drug exists — that is, none that consistently and predictably induce truth-telling. Nevertheless, this power has been attributed to a host of concoctions in the past century. These claims have fueled debate over their ethics and legality, as well as the mechanisms behind memory itself.
