10 Real-Life Gadgets That Will Make You In To A Proper Spy

Truth serums have been used in everything from James Bond to Harry Potter to Spooks, but could there really be a drug out there that will make you spill your innermost secrets?

There have been a number of drugs out there that can used to extract the truth from unwilling subjects. They aren't so much magic substances that render lying impossible, but will rather relax the recipient enough that the truth just sort of spills out of them.

BBC science buff, Dr. Michael Mosley, recently took the drug Thiopental under medical observation and attempted to lie. Thiopental is a fast-acting barbiturate that is still used in some places to try and weaken a suspect's resolve during questioning. On a lower dose he was just about able to stick to his story that he was a talented heart surgeon, but once the dosage was increased, Mosley reports that the idea of lying "simply didn't occur to him". 

Basically, the way it works is that it affects higher brain function, short term memory and it relaxes the subject. As lying is actually a pretty complicated thing to do for your poor old brain, it just gives up trying and the truth comes out much more easily.

If you can't get your hands on any powerful barbiturates (bearing in mind that these are the things that killed Marilyn Monroe), then a couple of pints will generally have much the same effect.