It's Been a Minute Peptides & the pursuit of the "perfect" body
Jan 9, 2026
Jasmine Sun, an independent journalist covering Silicon Valley culture, and Karen Maschke, a bioethicist and editor-in-chief at the Hastings Center, delve into the intriguing world of off-market peptides. They discuss the allure of these unregulated injectables for quick fixes beyond weight loss, the impact of tech culture on biohacking trends, and ethical concerns surrounding such practices. The conversation raises questions about technological shortcuts, human identity, and societal implications, revealing a complex interplay between innovation and ethics.
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Biohackers' Wild Home Experiments
- One person tried melanotan to stop being a ginger and accidentally changed how others read his race.
- Jasmine Sun encountered real people in San Francisco mixing research peptides with bacteriostatic water and injecting themselves at home.
Ozempic Sparked A Broader Peptide Rush
- The GLP-1/Ozempic craze exposed how demand for quick fixes pushes people to off-market research peptides.
- Biohackers then expanded experiments to peptides promising sleep, mood, cognition without human-trial evidence.
Peptides: Small Proteins, Big Misunderstanding
- Peptides are short amino-acid chains, essentially small proteins found naturally in the body.
- Listeners should note many peptides (like oxytocin) occur naturally but lack clinical evidence when sold as treatments.
