Buzz
Scientists are no strangers to risk. Some forsake their social lives, toiling long hours that distance them from family and friends, while others put their very lives in danger by coming into contact with toxic chemicals and deadly viruses. Some risks are justifiable, particularly when vital discoveries are within reach, but others make us question the scientist’s reasoning and, perhaps, their sanity.
10. James Logan
In 2012, Dr. James Logan, a renowned expert in disease research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, conducted a shocking experiment that would make most of us cringe: He deliberately infected himself with hookworms. To observe the parasites' behavior within his body, Logan swallowed a pill-sized camera. Normally, humans and animals contract hookworms by stepping on contaminated soil, as they are found in feces. However, for the sake of this study, Logan chose to have his team inject the hookworms directly into his skin.
Logan’s seemingly insane decision wasn’t random. He deliberately infected himself with intestinal parasites to better understand the connection between food allergies and hookworms, as well as to explore how these parasites manage to penetrate tough human skin. Prior studies have proposed that hookworms might help alleviate, or even cure, food allergy symptoms. Interestingly, Logan himself has a food allergy that makes him ill after consuming bread.
As the hookworms matured, they began to damage and inflame Logan’s intestines. While he experienced stomach pain, he also found that he could eat breadsticks and pizza without any allergic reactions. After completing the experiment, Logan ended it by taking albendazole, a drug used to eliminate intestinal parasites.
9. Michael Smith
In 2015, Michael Smith from Cornell University earned the Ig Nobel Prize in Physiology after he subjected himself to an excruciating and seemingly irrational experiment. He allowed honeybees to sting him at 25 different spots on his body, including his penis and testicles. Smith’s goal was to determine which area of the body experiences the most pain from a bee sting. His bizarre experiment spanned several weeks.
The outcome: Smith endured 200 bee stings and discovered that the three most agonizing spots to be stung by a bee are the penis, nostril, and upper lip. Of these, Smith claimed that the nostril was 'the worst place for a bee to attack,' which is surprising, as many would expect the penis to be the most painful spot.
Smith performed his outrageous experiment in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2015 that he was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Physiology. This amusing accolade, 'which honor[s] humorous scientific achievement[s],' is a playful parody of the Nobel Prize. Despite being a joke, the Ig Nobel Prizes are presented by real Nobel laureates. As part of his prize, Michael Smith received a Zimbabwean 10 trillion-dollar bill, though, in reality, its worth was just a few US dollars.
8. Brian Crandall And Peter Stahl
In a study published in the *Journal of Archaeological Science*, Peter Stahl and Brian Crandall detailed an experiment so revolting that it will likely make you gag. One of the two anthropologists from State University of New York in Binghamton swallowed a parboiled shrew. The pair, however, kept secret which of them was the unfortunate volunteer. The shrew used in this bizarre experiment was a northern short-tailed shrew, captured not far from the university. Excluding its tail, the shrew measured 90 millimeters ( in) in length.
Crandall and Stahl skinned, gutted, and then parboiled the rodent for two minutes before one of them swallowed it. The anthropologists conducted this peculiar experiment to study the effects of human digestion on 'small insectivore skeleton[s].'
Three days following the experiment, the volunteer's feces were collected and analyzed. The findings surprised the researchers. Despite the shrew being swallowed whole, many of its bones had vanished. Crandall and Stahl had hoped that the results would provide archaeologists with insights into the relationship between animal bones found at dig sites and the people who consumed them.
7. Regine Gries
Bedbugs have become an escalating problem, particularly in major cities around the world. However, thanks to the work of an eccentric, determined female scientist, our age-old battle with these pests may soon be over. Regine Gries, a biologist at Simon Fraser University, created a pheromone-based 'chemical lure' designed to attract bedbugs away from our mattresses—and our skin—and into traps. To refine and test her lure, Gries made a significant personal sacrifice: Every Saturday, she allowed thousands of bedbugs to bite her arms.
Initially, Gries and her students tried feeding the bedbugs chicken blood sourced from a nearby slaughterhouse. However, the chickens had been treated with medication, and their tainted blood led to the death of many bedbugs. After this failed attempt, Gries turned to guinea pigs, but faced a new issue: the bedbugs struggled to feed through the rodents' fur. The guinea pigs had to be sedated and shaved before each feeding. Ultimately, Gries abandoned the use of animals and chose to conduct the experiment on herself.
Gries compared the sensation of being bitten by thousands of bedbugs to the discomfort of mosquito bites. Interestingly, in a separate experiment, she allowed a colony of mosquitoes to feast on her body. To date, this unique biologist has been bitten by bedbugs at least 200,000 times.
6. Anatoli Brouchkov
The search for the fountain of youth may be over, or so claimed a Russian scientist. Anatoli Brouchkov, head of the Geocryology Department at Moscow State University, asserted that a million-year-old bacteria—not a magical spring—could hold the secret to eternal life. To test his hypothesis, Brouchkov made himself a human test subject and injected the bacteria into his body. The eccentric scientist said that after receiving the injection, he 'started to work longer' and had 'not had the flu for the past two years.'
Before injecting the bacteria, named *Bacillus F*, Brouchkov initially tested it on fruit flies and mice. After several successful trials, he decided to try it on himself. The positive results from his animal studies weren’t the only reason Brouchkov chose to inject the bacteria into his own body. He was also influenced by the longevity of the Yakut people, who reside in the region where *Bacillus F* lives in the permafrost. As the permafrost melts, traces of *Bacillus F* are released into the environment, including the drinking water of the Yakut population. Brouchkov believes that the long lifespan of the Yakut people is a result of their exposure to this ancient bacteria.
5. Pradeep Seth
HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was in the 1980s. With proper medication, those living with the virus can lead normal, healthy lives. Although HIV is now a manageable chronic disease for those who can access treatment, scientists continue to work on developing a vaccine to completely eliminate the virus. One such researcher is Dr. Pradeep Seth from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. In 2003, Seth injected himself with an experimental HIV vaccine he had created, driven by his passion to find a cure.
Before testing the HIV vaccine on himself, Seth first experimented with monkeys and mice. The results were promising, which led him to try the vaccine on himself to see how the human body would respond. While his decision was fueled by scientific curiosity and a desire to save millions of lives, it was met with criticism from the scientific community and government officials, who deemed it reckless and unethical. One colleague even accused him of letting his emotions and ego guide his actions. Fortunately, the vaccine he administered to himself did not contain the HIV virus.
4. Jose Delgado
What would you do if a bull came charging at you? Unless you’re a trained torero or matador, you’d probably run faster than you’ve ever run before. But Jose Delgado wasn’t like most people. He had never participated in a bullfight before, yet he stood his ground and confronted a furious bull charging toward him. Miraculously, he survived. Why would he risk such an encounter? For science. Jose Delgado, a renowned neurophysiologist at Yale University from 1946 to 1974, was the first to experiment with animal brain implants.
Delgado was deeply intrigued by animal neural anatomy and sought to control their behaviors and emotions. After years of research, he developed various advanced devices, including the stimoceiver. A stimoceiver is a ‘pacemaker-like’ device capable of electrically stimulating specific brain regions when activated by a remote receiver. This innovation allowed Delgado to control an animal’s movements and emotional state with the flip of a switch.
To prove the power of his stimoceiver, Delgado performed an experiment that could have easily cost him his life. He implanted a stimoceiver into a bull, then had it charge at him at full speed. As the bull barreled toward him, Delgado remained calm, switched the device on, and the enraged animal immediately halted and awkwardly trotted away.
Delgado hoped that his work on brain-machine interfaces could eventually help treat mental health disorders like depression and schizophrenia. However, due to significant ethical concerns raised by the public, Delgado’s groundbreaking research was never fully embraced by the medical community.
3. Tim Friede
Tim Friede is a man who clearly has no fear of venomous snakes. In fact, he has taken his fascination with these deadly reptiles to extreme lengths. Over the course of 16 years, Friede has injected himself with venom from some of the most dangerous snakes in the world, including the black mamba, Papua New Guinea taipans, and the western diamondback rattlesnake. While many might consider him insane, Friede's motivation for these risky experiments is rooted in a noble goal: he seeks to build a natural immunity to snake venom, with the hope that his blood will eventually aid in the development of life-saving vaccines for future snakebites.
Despite the honorable intentions behind his actions, Friede has faced intense criticism from both the scientific and medical communities. Experts warn that his pursuit of self-immunization is reckless, and that it will likely result in serious consequences such as infections, allergic reactions, organ failure, and possibly even death. Although he hasn’t lost his life yet, Friede's obsession with snakes has cost him his family. His ex-wife, Beth Friede, shared, “Me and the kids never came in first, sometimes not even second. The snakes were always first.” As for Tim, he remains determined to continue his experiments ‘until the vaccine is in the field’ or until his life is claimed by his daring quest.
2. The Waorani Tribe
Many people cringe at the mere thought of snakes, and some might even scream if they spot one. But for the Waorani tribe, who live in the Amazonian rainforest of Ecuador, snakes are no more threatening than small insects. And we're not talking about harmless pet shop snakes either. These are the formidable green anacondas, which can reach lengths of up to 9 meters (29 ft) and weigh as much as 250 kilograms (550 lb).
The Waorani were first introduced to the outside world in 1956, and they proudly claim to be the 'bravest indigenous group' in the Amazon. To prove their courage, young Waorani boys must catch green anacondas with nothing but their bare hands before they're considered full-fledged men. Taking advantage of this extraordinary skill, Renata Leite Pitman, a wildlife veterinarian and research associate at the Center for Tropical Conservation, has teamed up with the Waorani to study these massive snakes.
Once the Waorani have captured the green anacondas, they take blood samples to check for contaminants in the snakes' bodies, then implant transmitters to help Pitman track their movements. Despite the anaconda's imposing size, much remains unknown about their biology. With the help of the Waorani, Pitman hopes that the scientific community will learn more about the snakes and, importantly, gain insights into 'the levels of pollution' impacting the Ecuadorian forest.
1. Phil Kennedy
In the late 1990s, Phil Kennedy and Roy Bakay captured global attention with their groundbreaking creation: the world's first cyborg. The cyborg, named Johnny Ray, was a Vietnam War veteran and drywall contractor who had been left paralyzed after a stroke. To help him regain some autonomy, Kennedy and Bakay implanted electrodes into Ray's primary motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls voluntary movements. Remarkably, Ray was soon able to type and move a computer cursor using only his thoughts.
Kennedy’s brain experimentation didn’t end with Ray. In 2014, he took a bold step and decided to implant electrodes in a healthy, fully functioning brain—his own. Since implanting electrodes in humans was illegal in the United States, Kennedy traveled to Belize and paid Dr. Joel Cervantes $30,000 for the procedure. While the surgery was initially successful, it nearly resulted in severe cognitive impairments for Kennedy. For several days, he couldn’t speak, write legibly, or recognize familiar objects. Thankfully, the effects were only temporary, and Kennedy’s mind eventually returned to normal.
Kennedy wasn’t finished yet. He returned to Belize for a second surgery, this time requesting that Dr. Cervantes implant a radio transceiver and a power coil. However, the incision in his scalp never fully closed over the bulk of the electronics. On January 13, 2015, Kennedy underwent a second procedure with a local surgeon to have the power coil and transceiver removed. Nevertheless, the electrodes implanted in his primary motor cortex remained intact.
