A typical attendee in conferences gets to hear lectures from a field that may not be familiar to him/her and thus has a learning opportunity. Jump in noddersHowever, there is one downside to this and that is this business of some or many in the audience nodding off their heads and taking naps while the presentation on the stage is on. The main triggering molecule here is adenosine which activates the A2A receptor and induces sleep (Y. Oishi et al., Nature Communication 2017:8(1) DOI: 10.1038/S41467-017-00781-4). Besides adenosine there are other somnogenic molecules, which act on the A2A receptor as well. Popular sleep-inducing drugs potentiate the A2A receptor and put you to sleep.

Source: The Hindu September 28, 2019 14:03 UTC