The drink is alcohol. The name is Arabic in origin. Discovered by the Persian physicist and scientist Rhazes in the 12th century, alcohol has been helping ugly people have ‘ no, sorry. Evidently alcohol is a far more complex substance.

Also known scientifically as ethanol, alcohol is simply produced by the fermentation of sugar, where glucose, fructose and sucrose (among other things) are altered to ethanol and carbon dioxide, one of the earliest chemical reactions known to mankind.

Beer is an obvious result of ethanol fermentation. The enthralling effects of alcohol have been known for a long, long time (yet beer pong is undoubtedly a modern construction). So why do so many American adolescents drink this drink like its going out of style?

According to a particular and quite extensive survey done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the top reason was stated as: ‘To have a good time with friends.’ On their federally maintained Web site, niaaa.nih.gov, which charts research and publications concerning alcohol use, I keenly observed a few other interesting statistics as well, such as that the Northeast region holds the highest percentage of alcohol use among adolescents compared to the rest of the country, and that the number one reported alcohol related problem was that ‘it caused me to behave in a way I later regretted.’

I wonder if this top problem with ‘the drink’ indeed offsets the No. 1 reason for drinking in the first place. But wouldn’t it be great if alcohol didn’t make you do things you later regretted ‘ if it didn’t ‘make’ you so angry and violent (when you kicked that puppy), and if it didn’t make you succumb to the desires of a coy freshman male?

The identity of the infamous culprit is acetaldehyde, which is one of the many highly toxic byproducts that are released within the ethanol metabolism. Acetaldehyde (pronounced a-settle-hide) is what quite basically warps your judgment, and subsequent morning, so incredibly.

The acute chemical processes involving acetaldehyde within our nervous system remain mainly (and weirdly) unidentified, meaning scientists who study the effects of alcohol consumption do not know how exactly this toxin does what it does. Although several studies have undeniably revealed that being an extremely rash substance, acetaldehyde reacts with neurotransmitters and enzymes within our brains, producing new compounds which ‘make’ you do the meticulous actions that you so dearly regret later.

Well, this isn’t news to anybody and I am sure anyone who reads this article will not change their drinking habits, even though alcohol use is as well linked to male sterility and cancer of the esophagus, mouth and liver.

Truth is we know alcohol is harmful, yet we all readily consume it. Why? For almost the same reason someone climbs a mountain or sails around the world.

Perhaps doing something with great potential for physical risk makes us humans feel a bit more alive in our ordinary, monotonous, everyday existence ‘ although climbing that mountain and/or sailing around our trivial world might prove more rewarding than picking up that shameful plastic cup full of possibly the most cheapest grain alcohol on the globe.