IGF-1 virus belongs to Ken, who'll use it to build the pecs and lats she so adores, without filling up his calendar or wiping the sunny boy-next-door smile off his face. In fact, with both these drugs acting in concert, Ken and Barbie will be prettier than ever and have a lot more time to spend together.

But what about Barbie's kid sister, Skipper? Locked in perpetual adolescence, too young for sex or drugs ... Does biotech hold any promise for her? Happily, yes]
Special nerve endings in the skin, and especially on the tongue and cheeks and palate, are designed to measure temperature and give a gentle (or not so gentle) warning when they come in contact with surfaces that are too hot or too cold. Our mouths know the difference between ice cubes and hot soup. Still, these nerves are chemical machines, and there are chemicals that can fool them. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in peppers, is "hot" because its precise molecular shape locks onto our heat receptors, triggering physiological reactions like sweating and flushing. Similarly, menthol - the distilled essence of peppermints - triggers a sensation of cold that deadens pain in the same way ice does.

But menthol and capsaicin have very distinctive flavors and odors, which make them instantly recognizable and often offensive, even in tiny concentrations. The German molecule known as cyclic alpha-keto enamine, however, is a self-contained miniature ice age. It's cool to the touch and taste, like mint, but it produces a whopping 35 to 250 times the cooling sensation, with no intrinsic taste or smell. Large amounts of it can be added to anything. This could lead not only to bizarre new flavorings for Skipper to enjoy - SuperBerryIce and Hot Coffee Chiller, Megamint and even Frost Habanero - but also to cooling, time-release skin products for Ken and Barbie's day at the beach.

Being shallow never felt so good.

As the US grows more affluent, its cultural expressions have become more extreme, more competitive, one might say more professional. National cheerleading finals, recreational triathlons, octogenarian sex manuals ... Drugs have been a silent partner in the extreming of America, shedding their stigma and eroding the stigmas of the conditions they treat. Picture a cartoon spinach can in the pocket of every Popeye and Olive Oyl - and steroid poppers for every Bluto - and you begin to see just what fantasy is being realized here]
Melanotan 2 has been shelved precisely because of its broad, potent action in the body. Palatin is currently pursuing a slew of receptor-specific chemicals instead - none of them cosmetic - while the original compound has passed into the hands of EpiTan Limited of Melbourne, Australia. In the land of Oz, high rates of skin cancer make tanning a major health issue, and Melanotan - now in human trials - is expected to be approved for prescription use in the next few years. But with worldwide rights to the compound, EpiTan has its eyes on the US market as well and will likely petition for FDA approval at the same time.

The other chemicals are in a similar state - we'll be seeing them sometime in the next decade - and the development and legitimate market for their "fantasy" effects will take longer. But that's good; we can use the time to buy the beach houses and convertibles we're going to need. This decade is a breathing period, a chance to prepare for our cultural destiny: the drug-fueled extreming and professionalization of shallowness itself.