The perilous pursuit of the 'perfect' body | It's Been A Minute
January 9, 2026
1,399
34
5
2.79%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
NPR Podcasts Episodes Around January 9, 2026
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
8:18Amitav Ghosh’s 'Wild Fictions' gathers essays on empire and the environment
24:44Now PlayingThe perilous pursuit of the 'perfect' body | It's Been A Minute
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelOzempic and other GLP-1s have changed how we think of our bodies. Now, some are searching for other quick fixes for their body - far beyond weight loss.
In some Silicon Valley circles, 'Chinese peptides () ' are taking socalled biohacking to the next level. These unregulated injectables promise to help people who struggle with sleep, losing weight, or even making eye contact. One person even said they were searching for the "Ozempic for autism." Sound ethically dubious? Brittany thought so, too.
To get into it all, Brittany is joined by independent journalist Jasmine Sun () , who writes about Silicon Valley culture; and, Karen Maschke () , editorinchief of Ethics and Human Research. Jasmine and Karen break down the peptide subculture of Silicon Valley and what it means to be human in rapidly selfoptimizing world.
Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus. ()
Follow Brittany on Instagram@bmluse ()
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub () .
See pcm.adswizz.com () for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy ()
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.








