Technology does wonders for advancing society, especially in the medical field. We’ve seen dramatic advancements in prosthesis, robotic surgery, as well as implants and blindness cures. But there’s a completely different area of technology where biology and innovation collide. It’s called biohacking.
Biohacking can be described as the practice of engaging biology with the “hacker ethic,” more like DIY-biology.
Here are five examples, some mildly disturbing, of biohacking.
1. Growing an ear on your arm and connecting it to the Internet
Curtin University professor and artist that goes by the name Stelarc has been merging the fields of biology, robotics, and prostheses for the past 20 years by growing an ear on his arm. Now, he’s hooking his arm’s ear up to a microphone that’s equipped with wireless Internet so he can potentially “hear” a person on another continent while looking at someone else on an entirely different continent. The technology would also allow others to track his ear.
2. Injecting your eyes with “night-vision”
A biohacker group called Science for the Masses recently revealed the experiment. Using what appeared to be a turkey-baster-like device, the biohackers successfully injected Chlorin e6 into a willing volunteer’s conjunctival sacs in order to grant the subject low-light vision for a few hours.
3. Implanting an enormous computer chip into your own arm
Two years ago, biohacker Tim Cannon shocked the world (and turned some stomachs) when he implanted a Circadia 1.0 computer chip under the skin of his arm — a chip the size of your smartphone. He developed the device in order to monitor his heart rate, temperature, and other physiological data and then have the information transmitted to his Android so he could monitor his overall health.
4. Implanting a chip in your hand to hack Android phones
Seth Wahle decided to implant an NFC (Near Field Communications) chip in his hand (via special syringe) in order to load malicious content onto any Android phone he holds. Wahle demonstrated the hack at the Hack Miami conference this past May.
5. Buying a DIY cyborg kit off the Internet for $40
Now anyone can take part in biohacking. Biohacker Amal Graafstra created an online store called Dangerous Things where he sells gadgets that allow anyone to become a cyborg. Some of the items on his website are dangerous, but he offers the implantable technology necessary to implant tech like RFIDs, NFCs, and biomagnets inside your own body.
