AN ABBREVIATED HISTORY OF BIOHACKING

c. 300

Ancient Olympic athletes attempt to boost testosterone by eating sheep testicles.

1713

Pierre Jartoux, a Jesuit missionary in China, reports increased energy and improved appetite after eating ginseng, kicking off the international ginseng g trade.

1932–33

US engineer Buckminster Fuller tests his ‘Dymaxion’ sleep schedule: napping every six hours for a total of two hours’ sleep per day. He ultimately stopped because his co-workers refused to adapt p to his s habit.

1964

Romanian chemist Corneliu E Giurgea synthesises the first ‘nootropic’, or cognitiveenhancement drug, piracetam.

2004

British artist Neil Harbisson, born colour blind, has an antenna-like sensor implanted in his head. The sensor translates visible wavelengths into vibrations, allowing him to ‘hear’ colour.

Dec 2010

Dave Asprey posts a recipe on his blog for a mixture of coffee, butter and oil, he claims aids weight loss and boosts mental acuity, this becomes Bulletproof Coffee.

June 2014

Phil Kennedy flies to Belize and pays R420 000 to have a set of electrodes implanted in his brain, in an attempt to build a brain– computer interface. Results are mixed.

Aug 2017

Australian Meow-ludo Disco Gamma MeowMeow is fined for traveling without a valid train ticket. He had implanted the chip from the ticket in his own hand instead.

Oct 2017

Josiah Zayner, CEO of biohackingpromotion start-up The Odin, publicly injects himself with Crispr-edited DNA in an attempt to modify his genes and get bigger muscles.

Feb 2018

Aaron Traywick, CEO of genetherapy-testing start-up company Ascendance Biomedical, injects himself with an untested herpes treatment – live on stage.

April 2018

Traywick is found dead in a sensory deprivation tank of unrelated causes.