Ten Strange Scientific Experiments That Sound Completely Fake
The article details the unconventional self-experimentation of the late Dr. Michael Mosley, who ingested tapeworms to study their effects on the human body. It highlights his findings on weight gain and appetite changes, as well as his broader career in gonzo medical journalism.
Why it matters
It provides insight into the history of extreme scientific self-experimentation and the public communication of complex medical research.
V+ Published about 12 hours ago • 11 min read Photo by Alex on Unsplash The Scientist Who Gave Himself Tapeworms
The famous self-experiment conducted by the late British TV doctor, presenter, and medical journalist Dr. Michael Mosley.
In 2014, Mosley turned his body into a living laboratory for the BBC Four documentary Infested! Living with Parasites. He traveled to Kenya to obtain live beef tapeworm cysts (Taenia saginata) from infected cattle and deliberately swallowed three of them to study their effects on the human body.
• The "Pill-Cam" Reveal: Six weeks after ingestion, Mosley swallowed a tiny "pill camera" that transmitted live images of his digestive tract to his iPad. He notoriously first spotted the three fully grown, meter-long tapeworms attached to his intestinal lining while sitting in an Indian restaurant, shouting, "Blimey! There's a tapeworm in me!"
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