Health

The Genius Within: How to be smart in the 21st century

Boosting IQ is a hot topic in self-improvement. But a riveting new read leaves some big questions hanging

14 March 2018

brain pills — Pill-popping: does anything go in the quest to boost intelligence?
Volker Möhrke/Corbis/Getty

BEFORE David Adam can convince himself to ingest modafinil in a bid to cheat his way into Mensa, the society for people with a high IQ, he has a long way to go. First, he settles on a dodgy online pharmaceuticals outfit in India that apparently doubles as a honeymoon travel agency.

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

But when pills finally arrive in unlabelled blister packs, the risk proves too much for the author of The Man Who Couldn’t Stop (in which he chronicles his triumph over OCD). It is legal…