Self-Experimenters Step-Up For Science

The promise and perils of a sample size of one:

Day 1:
Self-Styled Cyborg Dreams of Outwitting Superintelligent Machines
Kevin Warwick wired his nervous system into the Internet and his wife; now he's out to become one with The Matrix

Day 2:
Filmmaker Gained Weight to Prove a Point about Portion Size
Morgan Spurlock turned an extreme Big Mac Attack into a public health wake-up call

Day 3:
Malaria Vaccine Maven Baits Irradiated Mosquitoes with His Own Arm
Stephen Hoffman has given years of sweat—and lots of blood—on his quest to stop a global killer

Day 4:
To Purge Binges, Alcoholic Cardiologist Self-Prescribed an Obscure Drug
Olivier Ameisen had tried everything to dry out; then he heard about baclofen

Day 5:
Can 200,000 Hours of Baby Talk Untie a Robot's Tongue?
Deb Roy and his family are risking their privacy so that someday computers might understand human speech

Day 6:
Self-Experimenter Freed Himself from Insomnia, Acne and Love Handles
Seth Roberts says the key to self-help lies in the scientific method

Day 7:
Daughter of MRI Researcher Offered Her Brain for Virtual Dissection
Sasha Giedd would have been the only girl in high school with a time-lapse movie of her developing brain, until the IRB caught wind of it

Day 8:
Psychedelic Chemist Explores the Surreality of Inner Space, One Drug at a Time
Alexander Shulgin endured a government crackdown and bone-melting hallucinations in pursuit of new mind-bending compounds