In a paper appearing in the upcoming_ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry_, researchers outline the outcome. After depriving the rats of sleep for 24 hours, the scientists exposed them to “the aroma of roasted beans” and compared their genetic activity to a control group—they counted 17 genes behaving differently between the two groups. When the researchers compared the exhausted rats with their caffeine-deprived counterparts there was a similarly marked distinction, 13 genes directly related to stress reacted differently (in one case, even expressing a protein with a known stress-reducing antioxidant). What this means for we non-rodents isn’t yet clear, but it’s safe to assume one thing: inhaling can’t hurt. Via PhysOrg
