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Cup of coffee after a night on the town to sober up? Well, a mouse study finds that caffeine does not counter the intoxicating¹ effects of alcohol. It merely masks the inebriation², which could lead to poor decisions. Because drinkers might think they’ve sobered up, whereas they could just be more wired. The study is in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

Researchers gave mice doses, separately and together, of caffeine and alcohol. Tests then gauged³ how well the mice learned how to avoid part of a maze⁴ that appeared dangerous because of bright lights or loud sounds. And mouse anxiety was tested, through their willingness to be in an open area.

No surprise, drunk animals were more relaxed and had less anxiety, and had trouble learning to avoid possible danger. Then the mice got alcohol and caffeine together. And the caffeine did not improve a drunk animal’s ability to learn. So the mouse is more relaxed but less able to avoid threats—if it had a tiny car available it probably would have thought “it was fine, I’m fine enough to drive it.”