<ul><li><strong>Kabir Singh was the most searched film on Google in India followed by 3 exceptional Hollywood movies — Avengers: Endgame, Joker and Captain Marvel. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>Everything related to Kabir Singh was a success. The film became the highest-grossing Indian movie after minting ₹276 crore<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time with its total box-office collection hitting $2.789 billion.<br /><br /></strong></li></ul>As 2019 draws to a close, Google narrows down the top movies that users searched for the most in India. <em>Kabir Singh</em> was the most searched film on Google in India followed by 3 exceptional Hollywood movies — <em>Avengers: Endgame</em>, <em>Joker </em>and <em>Captain Marvel</em>. <br /><br />Here’s a list of the top 10 movies searched for on Google in 2019: <br /><br /><strong>Kabir Singh<br /><div type="image" title="Kabir_Singh" msid="72475823" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br />Everything related to <em>Kabir Singh</em> was a success. The film became the highest-grossing Indian movie after minting ₹276 crore. Its music album was the ‘most favourite’ on Spotify music in 2019. <br /><br /><em>Kabir Singh</em>, starring Shahid Kapoor and <keyword id="1788525" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kiara-Advani">Kiara Advani</keyword>, is a remake of the famous Telugu hit film <em>Arjun Reddy</em>. The film revolves around a self-destructive lover who struggles with anger issues gets addicted to drugs and alcohol after his girlfriend is forced to marry someone else. <br /><br /><strong>Avengers: Endgame<br /><div type="image" title="PRI_95933080" msid="72475830" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br /><em>Avengers: Endgame </em>was the most awaited movie from the Marvel Comic Universe — the final film in the Avengers trilogy. Most of the fans wanted to know what Doctor Strange and <keyword id="6414070" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Iron-Man">Iron Man</keyword> will do to reverse Thanos’ snap, which killed off half the human on Earth at end of <em>Infinity War.</em><br /><br />Marvel’s <em>Avengers: Endgame </em>became the highest-grossing film of all time with its total box-office collection hitting $2.789 billion. It broke <em>Avatar</em>’s record, which it had for almost a decade, of $2.788 billion. <br /><br /><strong>Joker<br /><div type="image" title="maxresdefault" msid="72475867" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br />Joker is one of the oldest villains in DC's comics — and famed for being Batman’s arch-nemesis. This film is based on his origin story which has been evolving since the 1940s. It portrays how a disturbed loner Arthur Fleck, with difficult parentage and childhood, turns into a sociopath.<br /><br />Joker grossed $331 million in India. Globally, Joker’s collections hit $234 million, with $140.5 million coming from 73 offshore territories. Joker grossed $93.5 million globally over its first weekend, making it the best October debut ever.<br /><strong><br />Captain Marvel</strong><br /><div type="image" title="_105912023_marvel1_disney" msid="72475876" hostid="261"></div>

<br /><em>Captain Marvel </em>introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) first standalone, female-franchise title character, Carol Danvers or Captain Marvel.  The film follows Danvers' journey as she becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes. It released in India just before <em>Avengers: Endgame </em>and garnered $427 million. It is among the highest grossing US films in the country.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Super 30</strong><br /><br /><div type="image" title="E80B6AAF-D127-4C31-B8E0-E3268124FAA6" msid="72475883" hostid="261"></div>

<br />Super 30 is a biopic starring Bollywood’s Hrithik Roshan who plays the role of an inspiring teacher, Anand Kumar. Based on a true-story, Kumar revolutionises the education system in the heartlands with his Super 30 programme. He coaches talented but underprivileged children who wish to crack engineering entrance exam of IIT-JEE. <br /><br />Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30 crossed ₹100 crore mark, 11 days after its release in India. Its overall earning were ₹147 crore. <br /><br /><br /><strong>Mission Mangal<br /><div type="image" title="ED13004A-DD88-44AA-97A5-0E227DEE2B6F" msid="72475892" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br /><keyword id="2823" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshay-Kumar">Akshay Kumar</keyword>’s Mission Mangal is based on India’s space mission to Mars. And, one of the many reasons it caught the attention of the masses was because ISRO was simultaneously planning its real-life launch of Chandrayaan 2 — India’s second mission to the moon. It was released over the weekend — owing to the holiday on August 15 for Independence Day— which boosted collections. <br /><br /><br />Mission Mangal crossed ₹29 crore within 24 hours of release covering 20% of the movie’s total budget of ₹140 crore. Overall, it earned around ₹192 crore. <br /><br /><strong>Gully Boy<br /><div type="image" title="201911035_1-h_2019" msid="72475899" hostid="261"></div>

<br /></strong>Gully Boy is loosely based on the life of street rappers, Divine and Naezy. The film was shot in Dharavi — one of the world’s largest slum. The movie stars <keyword id="143436" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ranvir-Singh">Ranvir Singh</keyword> as the lead with Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Raaz and Siddhant Chaturvedi in supporting roles. 'Gully Boy' was India's official entry to the Oscars in 2019. It earned ₹134 crore at the box office. <br /><br /><strong>War<br /><div type="image" title="_d4ebc3ea-e4f2-11e9-939f-ba4a7f73df5c" msid="72475905" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br />War is an action thriller where an Indian soldier Khalid, played by Tiger Shroff, is assigned to kill his mentor Kabir, Hrithik Roshan — a spy gone rogue. The movie crossed ₹250 crore within 11 days of its release, according to film critic Taran Adarsh. It became the second-highest grosser of 2019, a title previously held by Aditya Dhar’s <em>Uri: The Surgical Strike</em>.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Housefull 4<br /><div type="image" title="104308-houseful4-trailer1" msid="72475915" hostid="261"></div>

</strong><br />The third Akshay Kumar movie int Google’s top 10, Housefull 4, earned ₹53 crore in the first three days of its release. The incarnation dramedy involves three brothers who are supposed to marry three sisters but things go haywire after one of the brothers ‘remembers’ their past. The film features Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, <keyword id="210696" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kriti-Sanon">Kriti Sanon</keyword>, Kriti Kharbanda, Pooja Hegde and Chunkey Pandey. <br /><br />Housefull 4 has also earned a whopping ₹77 crore in international markets.<br /><br /><br /><strong> Uri - The Surgical Strike<br /></strong><br /><div type="image" title="806551-uri" msid="72475923" hostid="261"></div>

<br /><em>Uri - The Surgical Strike </em>starring Vicky Kaushal is a jolting reminder of India's surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016. The movie was lauded for triggering the patriotic feelings in India. The film earned an estimated ₹342.06 crore. It is the first midrange movie to cross ₹200 crore.Both Kaushal and Uri’s director won the national award for the film. <br />

From Kabir Singh to Avengers Endgame — Top movies that Indians looked for on Google

<keyword id="6494550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dussehra">Dussehra</keyword>, the day when Lord Rama killed <keyword id="42776" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ravana">Ravana</keyword>, commemorates the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=triumph+of+good+over+evil">triumph of good over evil</a>. People celebrate it by burning effigies of ten-head Ravana, symbolizing burning of evil, greed, etc. However, Ravana is still alive today in various forms. Are they not Ravanas who carry out terror attacks, killing innocent people? Are they not Ravanas who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=rape">rape</a>? Are they not Ravanas who divide and kill people in the name of religion? They are monsters of the present time and a threat to the mankind. They should be burnt too.<br />
<br />
While we burn effigies of Ravana this year to show that good will always prevail over bad, we must also burn effigies of at least ten evils of the society which are listed below:<br />
 <br /> 1. <keyword id="6358165" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="terrorism">Terrorism</keyword>: It is a grave issue not only in India but world over. In India, at least 205 of the country’s 640 districts are affected by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=terrorist+">terrorist</a> activities. Terror attacks caused 231 deaths alone in the year 2012 in India, compared to 11,098 terror-caused deaths worldwide, as per report by the State Department of the United States. So burn the effigies of terror groups this Dussehra.<br />
 <br /> 2. <keyword id="6416731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Communalism">Communalism</keyword>: Why do people construct religious or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ethnic+identity">ethnic identity</a>? Is there any benefit of inciting strife between people of different communities and stimulate communal violence. Why to kill people in the name of religion when it is written nowhere in any religious book to do so. Let’s burn it forever and be united in all odds.<br />
 <br /> 3. <keyword id="39493" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rape">Rape</keyword>: Recently, we were shocked by a spate of rape cases involving young children, one was about 2-year-old and the other was 5-year-old. It has been reported that the number of rape cases in India have been steadily rising over the past decade. This is because more women are coming out to report such incidents, which is a good sign. But why is it happening? Kill it! Burn it! <br />
 <br /> 4. <keyword id="84827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Road-rage">Road rage</keyword>: It can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions that result into injuries and even deaths. According to a survey by the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Delhi+Traffic+Police">Delhi Traffic Police</a>, the city witnessed a rise in such cases because of the “worsening behaviour” of motorists. It says aggressive driving accounted for 25% of such cases, while continuous flashing of headlights accounted for 27%, persistent honking 25% and verbal insults and rude gestures accounted for 23%. Why are we losing our cool? It is time to think. <br />
 <br />
5.      Female foeticide: According to the 2011 census, the sex ratio in the 0 to 6 age group has increased from 102.4 males per 100 females in 1961, to 104.2 in 1980, to 107.5 in 2001, to 108.9 in 2011. However, it is within the normal range in eastern and southern Indian states, but significantly higher in Punjab, Haryana and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jammu+%26+Kashmir">Jammu &amp; Kashmir</a>. It is crime to kill a female foetus, however it is continuing. <br />
 <br />
6.      Drug addiction: Around 2 million people use opiates drug and 62.6 million are alcohol users in India, according to a survey in 2004. The number of incidents of drug abuse among children is on rise. It goes beyond alcohol and tobacco, and often also involves <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cocaine%2C+heroin+and+opium">cocaine, heroin and opium</a>. According to a 2012 survey by the government, boys aged between 15-19, shows that a shocking 28.6% reported tobacco use and 15% were addicted to alcohol. Girls aged 15-19 showed 5.5% used tobacco while 4% were addicted to alcohol. This is alarming!<br />
 <br />
7.      Domestic violence: Domestic abuse includes physical, emotional and sexual violence of any form. According to a National Family and Health survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15-49. The instance of violence was reported to be lowest among Buddhist and Jain women, while highest among Muslim women in India. <br />
 <br /> 8. <keyword id="6357490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Human-trafficking">Human trafficking</keyword>: People are being illegally trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. Various NGOs estimate this problem affects 20 to 65 million Indians. Girls are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriages, especially in areas where the sex ratio is low. Children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and also used as armed combatants by terrorist and insurgent groups.<br />
 <br /> 9. Prostitution: Mumbai and <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword> have the country's largest brothel based sex industry, with over 100,000 sex workers in Mumbai alone. The Indian law bans the acts of trafficking, procuring, detaining, pimping, lending a premise for carrying on prostitution for running a brothel. However, the law aims to punish the exploiters such as madams, pimps, traffickers, customers, and other partners aiding the exploitative sex trade but not the prostitute.<br />
 <br />
10.    Casteism: A lot of problems in India can be attributed to casteism. Discrimination on the grounds of caste has led to social tremors and stealing someone's rights in a secular country like India. It affects the society by making people more exposed to prejudice, stereotyping and other things. These differences in rankings often cause disputes within the society.<br />
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(Image: Indiatimes)  <br />

Have you burnt effigies of these 10 Ravanas this Dussehra?

Some of the most innovative solutions won hearts at <keyword id="6357940" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paypal">PayPal</keyword>'s recent <keyword id="1604076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hackathon">hackathon</keyword> which was meant for creating tech-based solutions for challenges faced by non-profit organizations.<br />
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15 NGOs focusing on the economic empowerment of underprivileged sections of society and over 150 developers participated in the hackathon clocking nearly 5,400 hours of non-stop coding.<br />
<br />
<strong>Here are the winning solutions this year :</strong><br /> -An alert mechanism for <keyword id="3856429" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gramium">Gramium</keyword> that notifies the loan taker about loan payment dues and deadline, helping the NGO scale and reduce defaulter events<br /> -A donor management system through a web and mobile app that allows the <keyword id="3856430" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="NGO-Child">NGO Child</keyword> to onboard new donors and analyse donation patterns using heuristic data so that the NGO can financially plan for an activity as well as establish an emotional connect with the donors through personalized greetings and by allowing them to track their proceedings<br /> -Web apps for students, mentors, and administrators to help <keyword id="3856431" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Surabhi-Trust">Surabhi Trust</keyword> overcome administrative challenges and enhance the quality of education being offered to underprivileged children<br />
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The team supporting the NGO Gramium won the hackathon for their simple, yet innovative solution, taking home the grand prize worth Rs 1,20,000. The team for the nonprofit Child was declared the runner up, while that representing Surabi Trust won the Best Use of Technology award. The winning NGO also received a cash prize of Rs 20,000, while the runner up NGO received Rs 10,000 to help put their solutions to action.<br />
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<strong>The previous editions of the Opportunity Hack in India have seen path-breaking solutions:</strong><br />
- A mobile app for volunteer management for the Blue Cross of India to further enhance the capability to report animals in distress and ambulance support requests for animals<br />
- An SMS-based intervention system for alcohol addiction in collaboration with TTK Hospitals that has the capability to track problems reported by patients or their families for early intervention<br />
- A volunteer and sensor onboarding solution to seamlessly integrate Sensors Without Borders’ platform, which captures metadata from sensors embedded with a range of community-oriented stakeholders, including schools, nonprofits and state agencies<br />
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“Opportunity Hack brings together our vast base of enthusiastic employees and engages the larger developer community in the country, challenging them to use their skills to help nonprofits overcome their most pressing real-world problems with executable and results-oriented tech-based solutions. This year, we once again witnessed the enthusiasm and the tremendous collaborative spirit such a platform can engender, with some highly innovative prototypes being created to help the participating NGOs take their social causes forward and make a sustainable impact on our society,” said Guru Bhat, GM Technology and Head of Engineering at PayPal.

The most innovative solutions declared winners at PayPal's Hackathon

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Which countries consume the most calories on a daily basis? </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>Substance abuse and addiction treatment provider</span> <a href="http://recoverybrands.com/">Recovery Brands</a> set out to answer this question, using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to analyze caloric intake in countries around the world.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The <a href="http://recoverybrands.com/consumption-by-country/">study</a> analyzed calories served per capita from 2004 to 2013. While you might assume it's US citizens who consume the most calories, it was actually Austria who topped the list with an average of 3,769 calories consumed per day. </span></p><p class="p1">While some countries remained neutral on the scale, significant portions of North America and certain countries in Europe hit well above the average. Those countries are in red on the map below.</p><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://recoverybrands.com/consumption-by-country/">Recovery Brands</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span class="s1">They also found that residents of countries where a smaller portion of income is spent on food costs are generally served larger amounts of calories each day, usually around 3,500 calories per person. In the US, where 33.3% of men and 35.8% of women are considered obese, <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/reducing-food-loss-and-waste">one out of every four</a> food calories meant for human consumption ends up going to waste. </span></p><p><span class="s1">Residents of India, on the other hand, consume the least amount of calories - about 2,500 a day on average. Countries where food costs usually make up a larger portion of the monthly budget are less likely to have high obesity rates, the study found. </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Recovery Brands also analyzed how average daily caloric intake has risen between 1961 and 2011. In some places, people were consuming as much as 500 or 600 more calories in 2011 than they were in 1961. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://recoverybrands.com/consumption-by-country/">Recovery Brands</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span class="s1">According to <a href="http://recoverybrands.com/consumption-by-country/">the study</a>, part of the reason for the dramatic increase is that restaurant serving sizes continue to grow, and the number of people eating out continues to rise. </span><span class="s1"><span>Data compiled from independent and small-chain restaurants showed that the average serving size per meal <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1282296/eib121.pdf">has grown</a> to be as much as </span>66%<span> of an adult's daily recommended caloric intake.</span></span></p><p>You can find the full study, including its findings on alcohol and tobacco consumption, on Recovery Brands' <a href="http://recoverybrands.com/consumption-by-country/">website</a>. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/food-actually-2000-calories-diet-health-2015-9">This is what 2,000 calories actually looks like</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NzM2V3bDqR1fHfEZ0fwa--LX5FJqXDez" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This map shows which countries consume the most calories every day

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In pre-17th century Europe, desserts were eaten between courses and sugar was rare. Through European colonization, the production of sugar expanded and soon became a main ingredient. </li><li>Here is a variety of traditional and signature desserts from <keyword id="46661" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Around-the-world">around the world</keyword>.</li><li>Desserts in neighboring countries have similarities, but the cultural significance makes each one unique.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><em>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.</em><br /><br /><strong>Naja Newell:</strong> Many of us know desserts to be the last guilty pleasure after a meal. But did you know that before the 17th century in Europe, what we know as desserts were used to cleanse the palate between courses? In many parts of the world, sugar was a rare and expensive ingredient. It wasn't until colonists generated and expanded the production of sugar fields through slave labor that the price of sugar was lowered. By the mid-17th century, cookbooks dedicated to desserts were published. With many different textures, colors, and flavors, here are some of the best desserts that exist around the world.<br /><br />This sweet treat got its name from the politician Eduardo Gomes, who ran for president of Brazil in the 1940s. Brigadeiros, which were inspired by Gomes' military rank, brigadier, quickly became a popular treat sold by women who supported him at rallies. He lost the election, but the bite-sized treat lives on. It is made with condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder and covered with chocolate sprinkles.<br /><br />In Nigeria, the act of repeating a word twice is deeply embedded in the culture. It is used for clarity and emphasis. Puff puff is deep-fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar in some cases, and it can be served as both an appetizer and a <keyword id="31573" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="dessert">dessert</keyword>, savory or sweet.<br /><br />When I first think of mochi, I think of the mochi ice cream in boxes sold at Trader Joe's, but that's just the American take on the famous dessert. Mochi is actually a rice cake made from mochigome. This rice becomes glutinous when boiled and doughy when steamed. Water and air are huge factors in the transformation of mochigome to the mochi dessert that we know. Water prevents the mochi from being a sticky mess, and air contributes to the gooey stretch.<br /><br />The word tembleque is associated with the Spanish word temblar, which means to jiggle or tremble. This definitely represents the consistency of this dessert. A coconut pudding, or custard if you wish, templeque is a holiday dessert that has numerous variations throughout Latin America. But no matter where you are, it is best eaten cold.<br /><br />Legend has it that chimney cakes were invented by women in Transylvania during the Mongol invasion in 1241. In order to convince the Mongols that they would outlive them during a stalemate, the women of Transylvania came up with a plan that mixed flour with water wrapped around a wooden stick. This gave the illusion of large portions of bread, but they were in fact hollow on the inside. Starving and disappointed, the Mongols left, and chimney cakes went on to be popular in both Romania and Hungary.<br /><br />This next dessert takes us here to Little Cupcake Bakeshop in New York, home to one of my favorite American desserts. And, no, it is not apple pie. Many people wonder, is red velvet cake simply just chocolate cake with red <keyword id="6181" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Food">food</keyword> dye? And the answer is: not exactly. Though the dessert has cocoa powder as one of the ingredients, it also calls for vinegar and buttermilk. The acidic flavors mixed with the cream-cheese frosting makes for a dessert that is definitely not chocolate cake. The red velvet cake stems back to a marketing ploy by an American food-coloring company. During the Great Depression, in order to boost sales, the Adams Extract company added red food coloring to velvet cake in order to give it the bright, distinct color that we know today. So as demand for the dessert increased, so did their revenue.<br /><br />Banoffee pie is a sweet combination of bananas, toffee, and whipped cream on a thick graham-cracker crust. The word banoffee itself is actually a portmanteau from words banana and toffee. It was invented at a restaurant in Sussex, England, and became world-famous.<br /><br />Yakgwa, meaning "medicinal confection," got its name because honey was known in Korea as healthy medicine. Yakgwa is a deep-fried cookie soaked in honey for six to eight hours. The history of this dessert is tied to special occasions like royal banquets or Chuseok. Though originally enjoyed mostly by the upper class because of the honey, it is commonly eaten today and still served for Chuseok.<br /><br />Soaked in a series of three milks, evaporated, condensed, and heavy cream or whole milk, this dessert is incredibly simple yet deliciously complex. Although people are not entirely sure where the dessert originated, the main consensus is Mexico. It was Nestlé that took the tres leches cake mainstream by featuring the recipe on cans of evaporated, condensed, and cream milk. Despite the marketing scheme, tres leches developed its own cultural significance in families all across Latin America.<br /><br />Stroopwafel is a sweet, caramellike filling sandwiched between two thin waffle cookies and was invented in the Dutch city of Gouda. Gerard Kamphuisen, who is credited as the inventor, took leftover bread crumbs and mixed them with a thick syrup. Warm up the caramel by letting the stroopwafel sit on a cup of coffee or tea before consuming, and you won't be sorry.<br /><br />A Filipino word meaning "mix-mix," halo-halo is a popular dessert in the Philippines made up of shaved ice, condensed milk, and fun sweet toppings like fruit, jellies, beans, ube ice cream, or sweet custard. This sweet treat is derived from the Japanese dessert kakigori. With the mix of Japanese occupation before World War II and the ice plant built by Americans in the Philippines in 1902, it was only a matter of time before Filipinos redesigned the ice treat to make what is known today as halo-halo.<br /><br />The origins of this dessert are a bit murky, with the Catalans saying their crema Catalana preceded France's crème brûlée as well as Britain saying its trinity cream was the first. However, thanks to chef François Massialot, France has the oldest recipe in writing, dating back to 1691. Crème brûlée is a custard topped with sugar that gets torched to create a caramelized, hardened top layer.<br /><br />Unlike crème brûlée, where the curdling, or clumping, of eggs in the custard is the sign of a mishap, baked custard welcomes the slight cooking of the egg. Instead of including only the egg yolk, like most custards, baked custard includes the entire egg and can be served warm or cool, based on preference. Did you know that the correct way to eat a Belgian waffle is with your hands?<br /><br />The Belgian waffle, originally called Brussels waffle, is one of two types of waffles that originated in Belgium. Americans know the Belgian waffle as a delicious breakfast food, but not many of us are actually eating the waffle as it was intended. Belgian waffles are not to be eaten with a knife and fork, but rather with your hands. And no syrup. Maybe fruit or whipped cream at most. Maurice Vermersch was the one who changed the name from Brussels waffle to Belgian, because Americans did not know where Brussels was.<br /><br />Partly influenced by British colonial occupation, this dessert actually has health benefits. Currants are high in fiber; manganese, which helps strengthen bones; potassium; and copper, which helps with metabolism. Trinidadians eat the rolls casually as an afternoon snack or sometimes breakfast. This dessert actually is not pudding at all. Malva pudding, like many other desserts, has an unknown origin story. Some say Dutch, while others say South African. Similar to toffee pudding, its warm, spongy texture coated in a warm cream sauce is a recipe for deliciousness. And how can I forget the key ingredient? The apricot jam.<br /><br />The cake's name is derived from the liquor of the Black Forest mountain region, known as Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser. The liquor is distilled from tart cherries. Black Forest cake was invented in 1915 by confectioner Josef Keller. Some people suggest that the look of the cake is a visual pun on the traditional bollenhut worn by the women in the Black Forest.<br /><br />As popular as this dessert is in India, according to food historian and former chef Michael Krondl, it's derived from a fritter belonging to Central Asian Turkic invaders. Folklore in India says that gulab jamun was accidentally created by a Persian priest and presented to the people as a royal dessert. Although it shares similarities with the Arabic luqaimat, a staple during Ramadan, gulab jamun is unique because it's covered in a rose-water-scented syrup.<br /><br />As someone who took out loans to pay for college, the story of this next dessert really hit home. If you're searching for an easy, no-bake dessert option, look no further. The Nanaimo bar consists of three layers. The base is made up of wafer, nuts, and coconut crumbs, the middle is custard, and the top layer is chocolate ganache. The bar is named after the city of Nanaimo in southwest Canada. The earliest recording of the name "Nanaimo bar" was in 1953. Susan Mendelson popularized the dessert and commercialized it in the 1970s to help pay her tuition. She then opened up her own café, The Lazy Gourmet, selling the dessert.<br /><br />Khao niaow ma muang is most likely to have originated in northern Thailand. This traditional Thai dessert is made with glutinous rice, coconut milk, a pinch of salt, sugar, and mangoes garnished with toasted sesame seeds or split mung beans. The best time to eat this dessert is in the peak mango season in Thailand, April through June.<br /><br />Translated from Italian as "pick me up," this espresso- and alcohol-infused dessert is sure to do a bit of that and more. Pastry chef Loli Linguanotto was identified as the creator in the '70s. However, Italian food writers discovered evidence that the same ingredients were first combined and called "tirime su" by chef Mario Cosolo in the '50s. This, of course, sparked much controversy, but regardless, the origin remains in Italy.<br /><br />Baklava's origins are still debatable. Both Turkey and Greece claim ownership of the dessert. In Turkey, baklava is traditionally made with pistachios, walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts, and in 2008, the Turkish patent office registered a certificate for Antep baklava, or baklava with pistachios. And in Greece, traditionally, baklava is made with 40 filo sheets to represent the 40 days of Lent.<br /><br />Similar to the famous baklava, galaktoboureko is filled with semolina custard and covered with several layers of filo. It's soaked in a syrup, making it a sweet, light dessert that can take the shape of rolls or squares. Either way, it's undisputably delicious.<br /><br />Giving up my sugar addiction for Lent was my go-to as a child. But for Dominicans who observe Lent and/or have eaten this as a child, know that this dessert will teleport you back to your childhood.<br /><br />Habichuelas con dulce is a signature dish in the Dominican Republic during Lent. Traditionally, the treat is garnished with galletas de leche, or tiny round cookies engraved with a cross. It consists of red kidney beans, sweet potatoes, milk, cinnamon, and sometimes raisins.<br /><br />In the 18th century, monks and nuns in Lisbon had leftover yolk after using egg whites to stretch their clothing. Legend has it that the monks used this leftover yolk to create delicious desserts and potentially sold these desserts to help them in their times of financial hardship. This financial hardship eventually led the monks to selling their recipe to a bakery in the capitol of Lisbon in the 1830s. In its peak season, this bakery today makes up to 50,000 tarts a day.<br /><br />Since the time of the vikings, skyr has remained relatively unchanged. Its recipe has been passed down between women from generation to generation. What separates skyr from other yogurt is its consistency, which is thick in comparison to the yogurt you may be used to eating with fruit and granola. Skyr comes in many different flavors and has health benefits that may make you want to ditch your yogurt.<br /><br />Sopa borracha, which translates to drunk soup, will not get you drunk, nor is it a soup. It is a delicious sponge cake drenched in a liquid mixture of boiled raisins and prunes with cinnamon, sugar, rum, sherry, and lemon zest. This is a festive dessert and is served during special occasions.<br /><br />I don't think any dessert has as much controversy as the Australian lamington, or is it the New Zealand Wellington? What started out as an April Fool's joke by The Guardian has sparked much controversy over whether this famous dessert belongs to Australia or New Zealand. To clear speculation, the sponge cake covered in chocolate and coated in coconut shavings is Australian. But the controversy over whether jam should be included may not get settled anytime soon.<br /><br />Syrniki, or fried quark pancakes, date back to Russian texts from the 10th century. Quark is a dairy product that is created by warming soured milk until it curdles. It is dried and crushed, rolled in flour, and then fried to create a crispy exterior and soft interior. Top it with sour cream and fruit, and you may just have yourself a syrniki.<br /><br />Picarones are a mix of sweet potatoes and squash, flour, and salt shaped and fried with syrup on top. Enslaved African cooks who were brought to Peru by the Spaniards created this delicious treat inspired by the Spanish buñuelos.<br /><br />Though the spelling, pronunciation, and exact recipe of this dessert changes throughout the region, kanafeh is traditionally a favorite amongst people in the Middle East. Think shredded phyllo dough or semolina dough with melted cheese, cream, or nuts topped with sweet rose-water syrup.<br /><br />This stacked dessert features eight thin layers of dough with dulce de leche sandwiched between, topped with whipped Italian meringue. This dessert gets its name from alfajores, Argentinian shortbreads that the dessert resembles.<br /><br />The three colorful layers of che ba mau are the yellow mung beans, red beans, and the green agar jelly mixed with pandan, which gives the jelly a chewy taste similar to a gummy bear. Topped with crushed ice, condensed milk, and coconut milk, this dessert is not as sweet as you may think, but it is refreshing and perfect for the hot days in Vietnam.<br /><br />Though many of these desserts have unknown, dark, or legend-like histories, each place has really made it its own. Our memories associated with these desserts make each one unique to us. So go and create a new, exciting memory by trying any one of these desserts, and let us know how it was in the comments below.<br /><br />Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-dessert-looks-like-around-the-world-2020-4">Insider</a>

What signature desserts look like in 33 countries around the world.

<h1>BI Answers: Does Truth Serum Really Work?</h1>
<h1></h1>
<p>The term "truth serum" refers to a number of mind-altering drugs that make you incapable of lying, or so the theory goes. Yes, such mind-altering drugs exist, but their effect does not completely inhibit a subject's ability to lie.</p>
<p>Some truth serums, like sodium thiopental, slow the speed at which your body sends messages from your spinal chord to your brain. As a result, it's more difficult to perform high-functioning tasks such as concentrating on a single activity like walking a straight line or even lying. It's this concentration that you need to think up a lie that truth serum takes away.</p>
<p>The same thing happens when you're nodding off and reach that twilight state where you're in between consciousness and sleep.</p>
<p>If you're not a compulsive liar, then it's likely more difficult for you to lie than tell the truth. As the famous American author wrote in <em>Mark Twain's Notebook</em> (published posthumous in 1935): <a href="http://www.twainquotes.com/Truth.html">"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."</a></p>
<p>That being said, there's no way to really know if someone is telling the truth<em>, </em>ever. Numerous accounts and scientific reports suggest that you're more prone to tell the truth under the effects of truth serum drugs, but the drugs have other side affects that might make you say something to please someone else that is not necessarily true.</p>
<p>Furthermore, not only are truth serum drugs not all that useful, they are illegal under certain circumstances including interrogation.</p>
<h2>Early forms of truth serum still used today</h2>
<p>The term "truth serum" came onto the scene in the 1920s, but humans have known since the time of the Roman Empire that we're more readily truthful while under the influence.</p>
<p>Although many of the first drugs that the CIA, police, and Nazi interrogators used throughout the '20s, '30s, and '40s are still around today, they have other uses such as ingredients in medicines that prevent motion sickness and for lethal injection.</p>
<h3>Scopolamine:</h3>
<p></p>
<p>The drug comes from the seeds of a tree, which locals call the "<a href="http://www.rense.com/general38/frug.htm">get-you-drunk</a>" tree. While some Nazis used it in interrogation, today it's in many medicines to help prevent motion sickness and tremors of Parkinson's disease. It's also used as a <a href="http://www.damninteresting.com/the-truth-about-truth-serum/">date-rape drug</a>.</p>
<p>Scopolamine can be ingested orally through a pill or in one bizarre case as a rub. <a href="http://www.rense.com/general38/frug.htm">Reports</a> recount three young women in the Colombian capital, Bogota, who smeared the drug on their breasts luring men to lick it off. Once the men were incapacitated, the women would drain their bank accounts.</p>
<h3>Pentothal or sodium thiopental:</h3>
<p>Sodium pentothal is a type of barbiturate, which is a series of drugs that are central nervous system depressants, colloquially known as "downers". Downers slow your body's process to transmit information to your brain and are common prescription medicines for pain relief, sedation, muscle relaxation, and lowering blood pressure.</p>
<p>An overdose of barbiturates can be lethal and has led to a number of celebrity deaths including Marylin Monroe, Judy Garland, and Jimi Hendrix. The drug was also one of the first used in lethal injections in the US and is most often administered intravenously.</p>
<p>Until 2011, it was sometimes used as an anesthetic because patients usually pass out within 30-45 seconds after taking the drug. But the US stopped using the drug completely a few years ago.</p>
<p>This is because on January 21, 2011 the Italian company that produced the drug announced they were ceasing production. The company was worried that Italian authorities would use it in executions and as a result the US lost their only viable supplier.</p>
<p>There are still accounts of this drug's use as a truth serum. In 2007, police in New Delhi, India administered sodium pentothal to wealthy businessman, Moninder Singh Pandher, and his servant, Surender Koli who were suspects in the infamous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noida_serial_murders">Noida serial murders</a>. While under the influence, they confessed to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/truth-serum-used-on-serial-child-killers/2007/01/12/1168105166282.html">luring children to their home</a>, raping, and then killing them. The servant, Koli, was given the death sentence and is in jail. Pandher was ultimately acquitted.</p>
<p></p>
<h3>Sodium Amytal or Amobarbital:</h3>
<p>Sodium Amytal is also a type of barbiturate, or downer. It was widely used <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/bulge-transcript/">during World War II</a> as an anti-anxiety drug for soldiers with the psychological disturbance called shell shock. But like all truth serum drugs, sodium amytal is a powerful sedative, and that side effect combined with the dis-coordination and cognitive impairment it induces is why soldiers no longer use it.</p>
<p>Moreover, don't get too familiar with sodium amytal, or you might get addicted. This drug is sometimes used to treat insomnia and is often administered intravenously, although it can come in powder form for oral ingestion. Take too much of this drug and it can be lethal. The maximum dose for an adult is one gram.</p>
<p>This drug is no longer used as a truth serum because subjects sometimes develop <a href="http://sw.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/5/423">false memories</a> after the fact.</p>
<h3>Ethyl Alcohol:</h3>
<p>That's right. Booze! The Italian phrase In vino veritas, which is Latin for "In wine there is truth", is attributed to a Roman philosopher known as Pliny the Elder. So, humans have known for roughly 2 thousand years about alcohol's ability to loosen the tongue.</p>
<p>If you've ever had one too many, then you could easily recognize the feeling you would experience with other truth serum drugs. Whether you're drinking it down or taking it intravenously in pure, ethanol form, this drug will make you more prone to spilling your secrets, but as you probably know, does not make you incapable of a little white lie every now and again.</p>
<h2></h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900891.html">Washington Post reporter David Brown</a>:</p>
<p>"In the 21st century, however, the answer appears to be: No. There is no pharmaceutical compound today whose proven effect is the consistent or predictable enhancement of truth-telling," Brown wrote in 2006.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that truth serum's magical capabilities seem to be mostly fictional, US courts have in special cases admitted the use of truth-serum drugs. One example was with accused 2012 Aurora, Colorado theatre shooter, <a href="http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/06/is-there-really-truth-serum-drugs/">James Holmes</a> - a judge allowed the use of sodium pentothal on Holmes to determine if his claims of insanity were real, not if he was guilty. In fact, confessions of guilt admitted under the influence of truth serum drugs were ruled in admissible in US courts in 1963.</p>
<p>Just because no truth-inducing drug exists today, doesn't mean there could be one in the future, according to Mark Wheelis, a professor and expert on the history of biological warfare and biological weapons control at the University of California Davis.</p>
<p>"There is a large number of neural circuits that we are on the verge of being able to manipulate - things that govern states like fear, anxiety, terror and depression," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900891_3.html">Davis told</a> Washington Post reporter Brown. "We don't have recipes yet to control them, but the potential is clearly foreseeable. It would absolutely astonish me if we didn't identify a range of pharmaceuticals that would be of great utility to interrogators."</p>
<h2>A self-experiment, with journalist Michael Mosley</h2>
<p>The best way to find out if truth serum works is to experience it for yourself, which is exactly what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/assets/js/vendor/tinymce/plugins/advlink/link.htm?1412888384">TV journalist Michael Mosley did</a>.</p>
<p>To investigate sodium thiopental, one of the more popular truth serum drugs, Mosley took two different doses of the drug. After administering the first dose, a doctor asked Mosley what he did for a living and through fits of giggles Mosley managed to lie and say that he was a world-famous heart surgeon.</p>
<p>In less than a minute after the drug was administered, Mosley went into a fit of giggles from the light-headed, tipsy feeling he experienced from the drug. He said that the feeling was akin to drinking a glass of champagne.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"I'm a television producer. Well, executive producer, well, presenter, some, mix of the three of them."</p>
<p id="story_continues_4">Mosley explained later that when asked the question, it didn't even occur to him to lie, so he didn't.</p>
<h2>Is this evidence that truth serum works?</h2>
<p>Not exactly.</p>
<p>One of the biggest problems with using truth serum for interrogation, is the warm, friendly feeling it gives the subject toward their interrogator. Combined with a state of severe disorientation, this can lead a subject to tell their interrogator what they think the interrogator wants to hear, which could be true or not.</p>
<p>This is partly why any statement made under the influence of a truth serum drug is inadmissible in US courts and has been for more than 50 years. In 1963 the US Supreme court ruled that confession statements made under the influence of truth serum drugs was "<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/372/293">unconstitutionally coerced</a>" threatening citizens' rights under the fifth amendment and was therefore inadmissible.</p>
<p>So, when it comes to drugs that alter your state of mind, disorient you, and loosen your tongue, believe what you will about their abilities to enhance truth telling. The evidence shows that statements revealed under the influence have a chance of being more complacent or outright false than true.</p>
<p>Moreover, truth serums are mostly "useless" <a href="http://io9.com/5902559/what-truths-does-truth-serum-actually-reveal">writes Esther Inglis-Arkell </a>in i09, "not because no one could get information, but because everyone could get too much." And sifting through the statements trying to pull out the ones that are true versus complacent is, frankly, impossible. But researchers continue to look for something more reliable.</p>
<h3>The future of truth-telling drugs</h3>
<p>As we learn more about the brain and discover new drugs we could be on the verge of a new type of truth-telling and trust-enhancing drug.</p>
<p>One of the more recent drugs examined for its truth-telling affects is oxytocin, known to women in labor as Pitocin. In 2005, two researchers at the University of Zurich examined the trust-promoting affects of the drug by studying 130 college students, some of whom were given a snort of oxytocin while the others received a placebo.</p>
<p>They were asked to play an investing game in which they had to trust a stranger to give them back a portion of their winnings. T<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">he students given oxytocin were more trusting with their money and transferred more money, on average. More importantly, 45% of the students on oxytocin transferred all of their money, showing maximal trust, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">twice as many as</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> students who took the placebo.</span></p>
<p>These new drugs that increase trust could be a next level advancement in truth serums - they would actually encourage truth telling instead of just making the teller say whatever makes their questioner happy. Don't worry too much, your secrets are safe for now. </p>

The Real Truth Behind The Effects Of 'Truth-Telling' Drugs 

<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h1>BI Answers: Does Truth Serum Really Work?</h1>
<p>The term "truth serum" refers to a number of mind-altering drugs that make you incapable of lying, or so the theory goes. Yes, such mind-altering drugs exist, but their effect does not completely inhibit a subject's ability to lie.</p>
<p>Some truth serums, like sodium thiopental, slow the speed at which your body sends messages from your spinal chord to your brain. As a result, it's more difficult to perform high-functioning tasks such as concentrating on a single activity like walking a straight line or even lying. It's this concentration that you need to think up a lie that truth serum takes away.</p>
<p>The same thing happens when you're nodding off and reach that twilight state where you're in between consciousness and sleep.</p>
<p>If you're not a compulsive liar, then it's likely more difficult for you to lie than tell the truth. As the famous American author wrote in <em>Mark Twain's Notebook</em> (published posthumous in 1935): <a href="http://www.twainquotes.com/Truth.html">"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."</a></p>
<p>That being said, there's no way to really know if someone is telling the truth<em>, </em>ever. Numerous accounts and scientific reports suggest that you're more prone to tell the truth under the effects of truth serum drugs, but the drugs have other side affects that might make you say something to please someone else that is not necessarily true.</p>
<p>Furthermore, not only are truth serum drugs not all that useful, they are illegal under certain circumstances including interrogation.</p>
<h2>Early forms of truth serum still used today</h2>
<p>The term "truth serum" came onto the scene in the 1920s, but humans have known since the time of the Roman Empire that we're more readily truthful while under the influence.</p>
<p>Although many of the first drugs that the CIA, police, and Nazi interrogators used throughout the '20s, '30s, and '40s are still around today, they have other uses such as ingredients in medicines that prevent motion sickness and for lethal injection.</p>
<h3>Scopolamine:</h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Scopolamine was first promoted by <a href="http://io9.com/5902559/what-truths-does-truth-serum-actually-reveal">Dr. Robert House</a> as a truth serum in the early 20th century, and was the first drug to adopt the name "truth serum." Throughout the 1920s and '30s police department in the US would use it on suspects and in some cases judges permitted the statements the subjects gave up while under the influence. Scopolamine was the truth serum drug of choice for many back in the day because it also wiped a subject's memory clean so they knew nothing about what they said after waking up.</p>
<p>The drug comes from the seeds of a tree, which locals call the "<a href="http://www.rense.com/general38/frug.htm">get-you-drunk</a>" tree. While some Nazis used it in interrogation, today it's in many medicines to help prevent motion sickness and tremors of Parkinson's disease. It's also used as a <a href="http://www.damninteresting.com/the-truth-about-truth-serum/">date-rape drug</a>.</p>
<p>Scopolamine can be ingested orally through a pill or in one bizarre case as a rub. <a href="http://www.rense.com/general38/frug.htm">Reports</a> recount three young women in the Colombian capital, Bogota, who smeared the drug on their breasts luring men to lick it off. Once the men were incapacitated, the women would drain their bank accounts.</p>
<h3>Pentothal or sodium thiopental:<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></h3>
<p>Sodium pentothal is a type of barbiturate, which is a series of drugs that are central nervous system depressants, colloquially known as "downers". Downers slow your body's process to transmit information to your brain and are common prescription medicines for pain relief, sedation, muscle relaxation, and lowering blood pressure.</p>
<p>An overdose of barbiturates can be lethal and has led to a number of celebrity deaths including Marylin Monroe, Judy Garland, and Jimi Hendrix. The drug was also one of the first used in lethal injections in the US and is most often administered intravenously.</p>
<p>Until 2011, it was sometimes used as an anesthetic because patients usually pass out within 30-45 seconds after taking the drug. But the US stopped using the drug completely a few years ago.</p>
<p>This is because on January 21, 2011 the Italian company that produced the drug announced they were ceasing production. The company was worried that Italian authorities would use it in executions and as a result the US lost their only viable supplier.</p>
<p>There are still accounts of this drug's use as a truth serum. In 2007, police in New Delhi, India administered sodium pentothal to wealthy businessman, Moninder Singh Pandher, and his servant, Surender Koli who were suspects in the infamous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noida_serial_murders">Noida serial murders</a>. While under the influence, they confessed to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/truth-serum-used-on-serial-child-killers/2007/01/12/1168105166282.html">luring children to their home</a>, raping, and then killing them. The servant, Koli, was given the death sentence and is in jail. Pandher was ultimately acquitted.</p>
<h3>Sodium Amytal or Amobarbital:</h3>
<p>Sodium Amytal is also a type of barbiturate, or downer. It was widely used <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/bulge-transcript/">during World War II</a> as an anti-anxiety drug for soldiers with the psychological disturbance called shell shock. But like all truth serum drugs, sodium amytal is a powerful sedative, and that side effect combined with the dis-coordination and cognitive impairment it induces is why soldiers no longer use it.</p>
<p>Moreover, don't get too familiar with sodium amytal, or you might get addicted. This drug is sometimes used to treat insomnia and is often administered intravenously, although it can come in powder form for oral ingestion. Take too much of this drug and it can be lethal. The maximum dose for an adult is one gram.</p>
<p>This drug is no longer used as a truth serum because subjects sometimes develop <a href="http://sw.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/5/423">false memories</a> after the fact.</p>
<h3>Ethyl Alcohol:</h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>That's right. Booze! The Italian phrase In vino veritas, which is Latin for "In wine there is truth", is attributed to a Roman philosopher known as Pliny the Elder. So, humans have known for roughly 2 thousand years about alcohol's ability to loosen the tongue.</p>
<p>If you've ever had one too many, then you could easily recognize the feeling you would experience with other truth serum drugs. Whether you're drinking it down or taking it intravenously in pure, ethanol form, this drug will make you more prone to spilling your secrets, but as you probably know, does not make you incapable of a little white lie every now and again.</p>
<h2>So do any of them actually work?</h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900891.html">Washington Post reporter David Brown</a>:</p>
<p>"In the 21st century, however, the answer appears to be: No. There is no pharmaceutical compound today whose proven effect is the consistent or predictable enhancement of truth-telling," Brown wrote in 2006.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that truth serum's magical capabilities seem to be mostly fictional, US courts have in special cases admitted the use of truth-serum drugs. One example was with accused 2012 Aurora, Colorado theatre shooter, <a href="http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/06/is-there-really-truth-serum-drugs/">James Holmes</a> - a judge allowed the use of sodium pentothal on Holmes to determine if his claims of insanity were real, not if he was guilty. In fact, confessions of guilt admitted under the influence of truth serum drugs were ruled in admissible in US courts in 1963.</p>
<p>Just because no truth-inducing drug exists today, doesn't mean there could be one in the future, according to Mark Wheelis, a professor and expert on the history of biological warfare and biological weapons control at the University of California Davis.</p>
<p>"There is a large number of neural circuits that we are on the verge of being able to manipulate - things that govern states like fear, anxiety, terror and depression," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900891_3.html">Davis told</a> Washington Post reporter Brown. "We don't have recipes yet to control them, but the potential is clearly foreseeable. It would absolutely astonish me if we didn't identify a range of pharmaceuticals that would be of great utility to interrogators."</p>
<h2>A self-experiment, with journalist Michael Mosley</h2>
<p>The best way to find out if truth serum works is to experience it for yourself, which is exactly what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/assets/js/vendor/tinymce/plugins/advlink/link.htm?1412888384">TV journalist Michael Mosley did</a>.</p>
<p>To investigate sodium thiopental, one of the more popular truth serum drugs, Mosley took two different doses of the drug. After administering the first dose, a doctor asked Mosley what he did for a living and through fits of giggles Mosley managed to lie and say that he was a world-famous heart surgeon.</p>
<p>In less than a minute after the drug was administered, Mosley went into a fit of giggles from the light-headed, tipsy feeling he experienced from the drug. He said that the feeling was akin to drinking a glass of champagne.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>After the second, larger dose of sodium thiopental, Mosley experienced something he was not expecting. When the doctor asked him what he did for a living he immediately responded:</p>
<p>"I'm a television producer. Well, executive producer, well, presenter, some, mix of the three of them."</p>
<p id="story_continues_4">Mosley explained later that when asked the question, it didn't even occur to him to lie, so he didn't.</p>
<h2>Is this evidence that truth serum works?</h2>
<h2>Not exactly.</h2>
<p>One of the biggest problems with using truth serum for interrogation, is the warm, friendly feeling it gives the subject toward their interrogator. Combined with a state of severe disorientation, this can lead a subject to tell their interrogator what they think the interrogator wants to hear, which could be true or not.</p>
<p>This is partly why any statement made under the influence of a truth serum drug is inadmissible in US courts and has been for more than 50 years. In 1963 the US Supreme court ruled that confession statements made under the influence of truth serum drugs was "<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/372/293">unconstitutionally coerced</a>" threatening citizens' rights under the fifth amendment and was therefore inadmissible.</p>
<p>One of the more recent drugs examined for its truth-telling affects is oxytocin, known to women in labor as Pitocin. In 2005, two researchers at the University of Zurich examined the trust-promoting affects of the drug by studying 130 college students, some of whom were given a snort of oxytocin while the others received a placebo.</p>
<p>The students were then presented a scenario in which they could transfer money to an investor. Transferring the money tripled its value and so the more the students transferred the more the investor received. The students could then trust the investor to return the favor and give some of the money back to the students, which would lead to a larger sum of money at the end of the day than if the student chose not to transfer the money.</p>
<p>Students who received oxytocin transferred more money, on average. More importantly, twice as many students on oxytocin - 45% - transferred all of the money, <strong>showing maximal trust</strong>, than students who took the placebo. The researchers' results support the theory that truth serum enhances a subject's feeling of trust toward others, which could be problematic when it comes to telling the truth versus saying what others want to hear.</p>
<p>Moreover, truth serums are mostly "useless" <a href="http://io9.com/5902559/what-truths-does-truth-serum-actually-reveal">writes Esther Inglis-Arkell </a>in i09, "not because no one could get information, but because everyone could get too much." And sifting through the statements trying to pull out the ones that are true versus complacent is, frankly, impossible.</p>
<p>So, when it comes to drugs that alter your state of mind, disorient you, and loosen your tongue, believe what you will about their abilities to enhance truth telling. The evidence shows that statements revealed under the influence have a chance of being more complacent or outright false than true. What you should be asking yourself is: Can you gamble with the truth?</p>

'Truth Serums' Have A Long And Sordid History - Do Any Really Work?

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">REUTERS/Aung Hla Tun </p><p class="caption">A <keyword id="16488" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jade">jade</keyword> merchant inspects the most valuable jade lot that will be auctioned at the Mid-Year Emporium in Yangon November 13, 2007.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>HPAKANT, Myanmar (Reuters) - Tin Tun picked all night through teetering heaps of rubble to find the palm-sized lump of jade he now holds in his hand. He hopes it will make him a fortune. It's happened before.</p>
<p>"Last year I found a stone worth 50 million kyat," he said, trekking past the craters and slag heaps of this notorious jade-mining region in northwest Myanmar. That's about $50,000 - and it was more than enough money for Tin Tun, 38, to buy land and build a house in his home village.</p>
<p>But rare finds by small-time prospectors like Tin Tun pale next to the staggering wealth extracted on an industrial scale by Myanmar's military, the tycoons it helped enrich, and companies linked to the country where most jade ends up: China.</p>
<p>Almost half of all jade sales are "unofficial" - that is, spirited over the border into China with little or no formal taxation. This represents billions of dollars in lost revenues that could be spent on rebuilding a nation shattered by nearly half a century of military dictatorship.</p>
<p>Official statistics confirm these missing billions. Myanmar produced more than 43 million kg of jade in fiscal year 2011/12 (April to March). Even valued at a conservative $100 per kg, it was worth $4.3 billion. But official exports of jade that year stood at only $34 million.</p>
<p>Official Chinese statistics only deepen the mystery. China doesn't publicly report how much jade it imports from Myanmar. But jade is included in official imports of precious stones and metals, which in 2012 were worth $293 million - a figure still too small to explain where billions of dollars of Myanmar jade has gone.</p>
<p>Such squandered wealth symbolizes a wider challenge in Myanmar, an impoverished country whose natural resources - including oil, timber and precious metals - have long fueled armed conflicts while enriching only powerful individuals or groups. In a rare visit to the heart of Myanmar's secretive jade-mining industry in Hpakant, Reuters found an anarchic region where soldiers and ethnic rebels clash, and where mainland Chinese traders rub shoulders with heroin-fueled "handpickers" who are routinely buried alive while scavenging for stones.</p>
<p>Myint Aung, Myanmar's Minister of Mines, did not reply to written questions from Reuters about the jade industry's missing millions and social costs.</p>
<p>Since a reformist government took office in March 2011, Myanmar has pinned its economic hopes on the resumption of foreign aid and investment. Some economists argue, however, that Myanmar's prosperity and unity may depend upon claiming more revenue from raw materials.</p>
<p>There are few reliable estimates on total jade sales that include unofficial exports. The Harvard Ash Center, which advises Myanmar's quasi-civilian government, has possibly the best numbers available.</p>
<p>After sending researchers to the area this year, the Harvard Ash Center published a report in July that put sales of Burmese jade at about $8 billion in 2011. That's more than double the country's revenue from natural gas and nearly a sixth of its 2011 GDP.</p>
<p>"Practically nothing is going to the government," David Dapice, the report's co-author, told Reuters. "What you need is a modern system of public finance in which the government collects some part of the rents from mining this stuff."</p>
<h3>HIDING STONES</h3>
<p>Chinese have prized jade for its beauty and symbolism for millennia. Many believe wearing jade jewelry brings good fortune, prosperity and longevity. It is also viewed as an investment, a major factor driving China's appetite for Burmese jade. "Gold is valuable, but jade is priceless," runs an old Chinese saying.</p>
<p>Jade is not only high value but easy to transport. "Only the stones they cannot hide go to the emporiums," said Tin Soe, 53, a jade trader in Hpakant, referring to the official auctions held in Myanmar's capital of Naypyitaw.</p>
<p>The rest is smuggled by truck to China by so-called "jockeys" through territory belonging to either the Burmese military or the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), both of whom extract tolls. The All China Jade Trade Association, a state-linked industry group based in Beijing, declined repeated requests for an interview.</p>
<p>Hpakant lies in Kachin State, a rugged region sandwiched strategically between China and India. Nowhere on Earth does jade exist in such quantity and quality. "Open the ground, let the country abound," reads the sign outside the Hpakant offices of the Ministry of Mines.</p>
<p>In fact, few places better symbolize how little Myanmar benefits from its fabulous natural wealth. The road to Hpakant has pot-holes bigger than the four-wheel-drive cars that negotiate it. During the rainy season, it can take nine hours to reach from Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital 110 km (68 miles) away.</p>
<p>Non-Burmese are rarely granted official access to Hpakant, but taxi-drivers routinely take Chinese traders there for exorbitant fees, part of which goes to dispensing bribes at police and military checkpoints. The official reason for restricting access to Hpakant is security: the Burmese military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have long vied for control of the road, which is said to be flanked with land-mines. But the restrictions also serve to reduce scrutiny of the industry's biggest players and its horrific social costs: the mass deaths of workers and some of the highest heroin addiction and HIV infection rates in Myanmar.</p>
<p>There are also "obvious" links between jade and conflict in Kachin State, said analyst Richard Horsey, a former United Nations senior official in Myanmar. A 17-year ceasefire between the military and the KIA ended when fighting erupted in June 2011. It has since displaced at least 100,000 people.</p>
<p>"Such vast revenues - in the hands of both sides - have certainly fed into the conflict, helped fund insurgency, and will be a hugely complicating factor in building a sustainable peace economy," Horsey said.</p>
<p>The United States banned imports of jade, rubies and other Burmese gemstones in 2008 in a bid to cut off revenue to the military junta which then ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma. But soaring demand from neighboring China meant the ban had little effect. After Myanmar's reformist government took power, the United States scrapped or suspended almost all economic and political sanctions - but not the ban on jade and rubies. It was renewed by the White House on August 7 in a sign that Myanmar's anarchic jade industry remains a throwback to an era of dictatorship. The U.S. Department of the Treasury included the industry in activities that "contribute to human rights abuses or undermine Burma's democratic reform process."</p>
<p>Foreign companies are not permitted to extract jade. But mining is capital intensive, and it is an open secret that most of the 20 or so largest operations in Hpakant are owned by Chinese companies or their proxies, say gem traders and other industry insiders in Kachin State. "Of course, some (profit) goes to the government," said Yup Zaw Hkawng, chairman of Jadeland Myanmar, the most prominent Kachin mining company in Hpakant. "But mostly it goes into the pockets of Chinese families and the families of the former (Burmese) government."</p>
<p>Other players include the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL), the investment arm of the country's much-feared military, and Burmese tycoons such as Zaw Zaw, chairman of Max Myanmar, who made their fortunes collaborating with the former junta.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">REUTERS/Minzayar </p><p class="caption">Hand-pickers search for jade through rubble dumped by mining companies at a jade mine in Hpakant township, Kachin State July 8, 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h3>THE CHINA CONNECTION</h3>
<p>Soldiers guard the big mining companies and sometimes shoot in the air to scare off small-time prospectors. "We run like crazy when we see them," said Tin Tun, the handpicker.</p>
<p>UMEHL is notoriously tight-lipped about its operations. "Stop bothering us," Major Myint Oo, chief of human resources at UMEHL's head office in downtown Yangon, told Reuters. "You can't just come in here and meet our superiors. This is a military company. Some matters must be kept secret."</p>
<p>This arrangement, whereby Chinese companies exploit natural resources with military help, is both familiar and deeply controversial in Myanmar.</p>
<p>Last year, protests outside the Letpadaung copper mine in northwest Myanmar triggered a violent police crackdown. The mine's two operators - UMEHL and Myanmar Wanbao, a unit of Chinese weapons manufacturer China North Industries Corp - shared most of the profits, leaving the government with just 4 percent. That contract was revised in July in an apparent attempt to appease public anger. The government now gets 51 percent of the profits, while UMEHL and Myanmar Wanbao get 30 and 19 percent respectively.</p>
<p>China's domination of the jade trade could feed into a wider resentment over its exploitation of Myanmar's natural wealth. A Chinese-led plan to build a $3.6 million dam at the Irrawaddy River's source in Kachin State - and send most of the power it generated to Yunnan Province - was suspended in 2011 by President Thein Sein amid popular outrage.</p>
<p>The national and local governments should also get a greater share of Kachin State's natural wealth, say analysts and activists. That includes gold, timber and hydropower, but especially jade.</p>
<p>A two-week auction held in the capital Naypyitaw in June sold a record-breaking $2.6 billion in jade and gems. But jade tax revenue in 2011 amounted to only 20 percent of the official sales. Add in all the "unofficial" sales outside of the emporium, and Harvard calculates an effective tax rate of about 7 percent on all Burmese jade.</p>
<p>It is, on the other hand, highly lucrative for the mining companies, whose estimated cost of production is $400 a ton, compared with an official sales figure of $126,000 a ton, the report said.</p>
<p>"Kachin, and by extension Myanmar, cannot be peaceful and politically stable without some equitable sharing of resource revenues with the local people," said analyst Horsey.</p>
<h3>THE PECKING ORDER</h3>
<p>At the top of the pecking order in Hpakant are cashed-up traders from China, who buy stones displayed on so-called "jade tables" in Hpakant tea-shops. The tables are run by middleman called laoban ("boss" in Chinese), who are often ethnic Chinese. They buy jade from, and sometimes employ, handpickers like Tin Tun.</p>
<p>The handpickers are at the bottom of the heap - literally. They swarm in their hundreds across mountains of rubble dumped by the mining companies. It is perilous work, especially when banks and slag heaps are destabilized by monsoon rain. Landslides routinely swallow 10 or 20 men at a time, said Too Aung, 30, a handpicker from the Kachin town of Bhamo.</p>
<p>"Sometimes we can't even dig out their bodies," he said. "We don't know where to look."</p>
<p>In 2002, at least a thousand people were killed when flood waters inundated a mine, Jadeland Myanmar chairman Yup Zaw Hkawng told Reuters. Deaths are common but routinely concealed by companies eager to avoid suspending operations, he said.</p>
<p>The boom in Hpakant's population coincided with an exponential rise in opium production in Myanmar, the world's second-largest producer after Afghanistan. Its derivative, heroin, is cheap and widely available in Kachin State, and Hpakant's workforce seems to run on it.</p>
<p>About half the handpickers use heroin, while others rely on opium or alcohol, said Tin Soe, 53, a jade trader and a local leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party. "It's very rare to find someone who doesn't do any of these," he said.</p>
<p>Official figures on heroin use in Hpakant are hard to get. The few foreign aid workers operating in the area, mostly working with drug users, declined comment for fear of upsetting relations with the Myanmar government. But health workers say privately about 40 percent of injecting drug users in Hpakant are HIV positive - twice the national average.</p>
<p>Drug use is so intrinsic to jade mining that "shooting galleries" operate openly in Hpakant, with workers often exchanging lumps of jade for hits of heroin.</p>
<p>Soe Moe, 39, came to Hpakant in 1992. Three years later, he was sniffing heroin, then injecting it. His habit now devours his earnings as a handpicker. "When I'm on (heroin), I feel happier and more energetic. I work better," he said. The shooting gallery he frequents accommodates hundreds of users. "The place is so busy it's like a festival," he said. Soe Moe said he didn't fear arrest, because the gallery owners paid off the police.</p>
<h3>MOVING MOUNTAINS</h3>
<p>Twenty years ago, Hpakant was controlled by KIA insurgents who for a modest fee granted access to small prospectors. Four people with iron picks could live off the jade harvested from a small plot of land, said Yitnang Ze Lum of the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association (MGJEA) in Myitkyina.</p>
<p>A 1994 ceasefire brought most of Hpakant back under government control, and large-scale extraction began, with hundreds of backhoes, earthmovers and trucks working around the clock. "Now even a mountain lasts only three months," said Yitnang Ze Lum.</p>
<p>Many Kachin businessmen, unable to compete in terms of capital or technology, were shut out of the industry. Non-Kachin workers poured in from across Myanmar, looking for jobs and hoping to strike it rich.</p>
<p>The mines were closed in mid-2012 when the conflict flared up again. Myanmar's military shelled suspected KIA positions; the rebels retaliated with ambushes along the Hpakant road. Thousands of people were displaced.Jade production plunged to just 19.08 million kg in the 2012/13 fiscal year from 43.1 million kg the previous year. But the government forged a preliminary ceasefire with the Kachin rebels in May, and some traders predict Hpakant's mines will re-open when the monsoon ends in October.</p>
<p>When operations are in full swing, the road to Hpakant is clogged with vehicles bringing fuel in and jade out. Such is the scale and speed of modern extraction, said Yitnang Ze Lum, Hpakant's jade could be gone within 10 years.</p>
<p>"Every Kachin feels passionately that their state's resources are being taken away," a leading Myitkyina gem trader told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "But we're powerless to stop them."</p>
<p>(Andrew R.C. Marshall reported from Myitkyina; Min Zayar Oo reported from Hpakant; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing <a></a></p>

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