ArionVII comments on Kerry Lays Groundwork for Attack on Syria - ecretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons against civilians was a "moral obscenity," delivering the clearest indication yet that the Obama administration is preparing to attack President Bashar al-Assad's regime: Neuroscience student here.
I'm not telling you this to make any political point. I'm just going to inform you about nerve agents.
Your brain interfaces with your body at junctions between your body and your nerves. Communication at these junctions (called synapses) is chemical: nerve agents disrupt this signaling.
You've likely consumed ethanol, nicotine, or cannabis: drugs which cause pleasure.
Chemical weapons are drugs which cause pain.
Let's say you're walking with a group of people, and you're overcome by a cloud of sarin gas. The first thing I bet would happen is you would know something was profoundly wrong; the same way you know you're getting sick. You'd feel it as a tightness in your chest and limbs - your eyes, nose, and mouth would all feel runny. You'd start sniffling, and tearing up, and the feeling of wrongness would intensify to something like motion sickness, but worse.
Much worse.