Marnie Chesterton

Okay, and presumably doing those studies is tricky. It's always that way when you're starting with something novel. It's got to go very slowly through the official channels. So, it's a grey area, and given the lack of scientific evidence, are these peptides even legal?

Some are banned in sport. For example, they're on the world anti-doping authorities ban list. The issue, for example, if we take the UK, because they're not considered medicines, they're unregulated by the medical authority. It doesn't form within the purview. Sellers themselves can't make these claims, but often they're made by others. It sounds almost like the TikTokers are doing enough of the marketing for them.

Also the idea is that it's just additives, this kind of basic notion that more peptides equals more benefits. It's very different to how the human body works. So for example, we have very specific levels or ranges of peptides in our bodies, so just injecting it willy-nilly could unbalance the entire system. We may have far more than we need, and that could basically cause unexpected results. And the other part of all of this as well is that people could accidentally, for example, inject air or...

It might impact the medicines that they're already taking. So there are a host of potential negative impacts. Okay, so what I'm hearing is more research needed and maybe hold off on the nightly peptide routine for the time being. Thank you, Katie. We're going to be joined by an expert later who can tell us a bit more about whether peptides are going to be playing a role in the enhanced games. But for now, thank you for the lowdown on the peptide trend.

wanted to know, what does cocaine do to salmon? Uh-oh. Presumably they gave cocaine to salmon, which makes my mind boggle. The idea, not the cocaine. How did they test this? Is it easy to give cocaine to a fish?

There is just something quite funny about this, but I know that there is a serious side to this. And that's that these drugs, any drugs, recreational and medicinal, are ending up in increasing quantities in our water supplies.

Which means that the enhanced games may already be happening on a global scale, whether we intend it or not. Thank you Andrada. Still to come on the show, at what has been dubbed the doping Olympics, who is keeping track of what the athletes take and how they stay safe? Find out, stay with us.

You're listening to Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service, a science show powered by the news. And this week we are superpowered by the news of the inaugural enhanced games taking place in Nevada in the USA.

The idea that athletes are allowed to take a selection of drugs normally prohibited by competitions has led to condemnation of this event as a dangerous clown show. But is it dangerous? And who is monitoring what's going on? We're joined now by David Petrino, professor in rehabilitation and human performance at the ICAN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Thanks for having me.

Kiitos paljon, että katsoit Unexpected Elementsin. Olet osa programmaa Mount Sinaiin nimeltä Performance360, joka toimii monilla suurta toimintaa, joilla on myös elit-athleteja. Yksi projekti, johon Performance360 on nykyään osallistunut terveydenhuollon näkökulmasta, on Enhanced Games. Voitko kertoa meille, mitä sinä teet siellä?

David, can I ask you what your take is on the enhanced games? Because it's got a lot of people's backs up. Don't you worry that if it's legitimized, it kind of moves those goalposts towards exploring right up to the edge of not safe?

Thank you to Professor David Petrino. So, the first ever enhanced games taking place in Las Vegas this week has us musing on stories of doping. Whether that's monitoring how it's done at the games, the trend that means folk are injecting peptides on social media, or the scientists dosing salmon with cocaine.

Still to come on unexpected elements. How to enhance your health if you'd rather visit a gallery than a gym? And why do some countries have spicy food? Is it latitudinal, cultural or biological? And can you use radio waves to improve your sense of smell? That's all coming up.

This is Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service, the show that takes its lead from events in the news. For the main part, this week, that's the story of the inaugural Enhanced Games, informally called the Doping Olympics taking place in the States. But we also like to make room for the occasional science story that wouldn't otherwise hit the headlines. Think of it like a show and tell for an underreported story.

Wow. I find this quite disconcerting. We'll come on to discussing what the implications are of this, but there's something else that's intrigued me. Smell tests. What is a smell test and how do you pass it?

Andrada, do we know why they chose this specific 2.45 gigahertz? And if it was designed to specifically target a part of the brain that corresponds to our olfactory sensors, did it work on other sensors as well?

Eli alkuperäisiä mielenkiintoisia työtä, mutta luulen, että tämä voisi antaa toivoa ihmisille, joilla on vähemmän kuin tavallisia tunteita rauhaa, kuten Andrada, jolla mainitsit. Kyllä, juuri. Ja rauha on myös ensimmäinen asia, joka menee edelleen.

My partner lost his sense of smell because of COVID, never really returned, so he's pretty much done all the pooey nappy changes. I've outsourced them all, I'm like, this is your domain. Oh, genius! There's a vet who wrote books about his veterinary practice in the 70s, I think, and there was this gorgeous tale of a chronically flatulent dog that no one would give a home to, and this old guy took it on

Eikä kukaan saisi olla kotiin, koska se kuulosti niin huonosti, muun muassa tämä vanhempi. Veti kysyi hänestä, onko hänellä mitään, ja hän sanoi, että en tiedä, mutta kuulosti ei ole hyvä. Minulla oli adenoidit, ja ne tuli jotain. En ole voinut kuulostaa mitään, koska olen ollut vanhempi. Se on täydellinen kombinaatio hienoa, mutta huonoa kuulostavaa kotiä ja ihmistä, jolla ei voi kuulostaa.

That's lovely. That's like soulmates. I know, right? I mean, do what you can with whatever stick you were given. Even if it's not a sniffing stick. Thank you, Andrada, for bringing that out from under the radar.