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Obsessed with optimisation? The rise of peptides, stacks and ‘maxxing’ in wellness culture

Published 17 August 2026
Gloved hands holding a jumbled stack of medicine bottles.

We are delighted to announce the first of the panel sessions taking place at ESC this year, on the topic of wellness culture, biohacking and looksmaxxing.

As wellness influencers and podcasters promote ever-more extreme protocols, practices like supplement stacking and injectable peptides are gaining popularity across online subcultures. Extreme self-optimisation like biohacking and looksmaxxing has spread from the niche tech-centric spaces into the mainstream with young men particularly vulnerable to hyper-targeted protocols. Join host Dr Ria Lina with Dr Alice Howarth, science communicator Jonathan Jarry and feminist podcaster Lily O’Farrell as we explore the rapid rise of these trends, the potential health consequences and where the wellness machine goes next.

  • Dr Alice Howarth is cancer cell biologist, science communicator, podcaster and writer. She has been part of the skeptical community for more than a decade, and is co-host of Skeptics with a K, vice president of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, deputy editor of The Skeptic Magazine, co-organiser of the QED conference and co-founder of Skeptics in the Pub Online. Alice has delivered lectures on the topics of science and skepticism all over the world, written for publications such as The Guardian, and worked on numerous investigations into pseudoscientific and wellness claims. In her day job, Alice is an open research advocate for The University of Sheffield and the UK Reproducibility Network, working to make research available beyond academia. She believes that accessibility and inclusivity is crucial to how we engage with science and critical thinking.

  • Jonathan Jarry is a science communicator with McGill University’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), dedicated to separating sense from nonsense on the scientific stage. He has a Master’s degree in molecular biology and he brings his experience in cancer research, human genetics, rehabilitation research, and forensic biology to the work he does for the public. He talks about science most Fridays on CTV Montreal News and is regularly interviewed in both English- and French-language media.

  • Lily O’Farrell is a writer, cartoonist and feminist commentator. Her documentary podcast series, No Worries If Not! has just finished its fourth season, exploring the intersection of culture, misinformation, the Internet, and feminism. Since 2018, she has been publishing funny, educational cartoons about misogyny, feminism, and Internet culture, building an audience of more than 400k online followers, with translations into Vietnamese, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic and several other languages. She has collaborated with organisations including the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, Refuge, the End Violence Against Women Coalition and Good Law Project, helping to turn their campaigns into accessible, engaging cartoons. In 2021, she published her first book, Kyle Theory, and has appeared in and written for The i, Metro, Stylist, Glamour, The Sunday Times, The Week, and BBC Radio 4s Woman’s Hour.

  • Ria Lina is a multi-award-winning comedian, actress, and writer. A third-culture kid, Ria was born to a Filipino mother and German father and was raised in the UK and the Netherlands. Her credits include appearances on Live At The Apollo (BBC), Have I Got News For You (BBC), QI (BBC), Mock The Week (BBC), The Last Leg (Channel 4) and a regular on Times Radio in the UK. Ria has also been frequently featured on The News Quiz (Radio 4), The Now Show (Radio 4), Late Night Mash (Dave), and was the star of Lovestruck High (Amazon Prime). Ria won Celebrity Mastermind (BBC), with Rosalind Franklin as her specialist subject. She is the cohost of Yesterday, Today & The Day Before (Comedy Central), cohost of Richard Hammond’s Brain Reaction (Comedy Central) and has been seen on occasion in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner (Channel 4). Ria also holds a BSc in Experimental Pathology, an MSc in Forensic Science, and a PhD in Virology. She has taken six shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her work tackling topics such as autism, motherhood, political correctness, feminism and racial identity.

This panel joins Jim Al-Khalili, Sheena Cruickshank, Chantal den Daas, Christina Pagel, Massimo Polidoro, and Mike Wendling as part of the line up for ESC 2026 - with more still to announce! Tickets are still available at the early bird rate of £120 for ECSO members, or £140 for non-members - with online-only tickets now available for just £10. Pick up your tickets today.