In August 1998, Professor Kevin Warwick inadvertently ushered an era of'biohacking' when he had a small cylindrical chip implanted in his arm. Around the length of a 2p coin, it let him open doors and switch on lights with a casual wave while walking around the cybernetics department at the University of Reading. Today, he's referred to as'Captain Cyborg' and is considered the first'biohacker' – someone who makes alterations to the body with technology to make life easier. Now the Vice-Chancellor at Coventry University, the 69-year-old looks back at the experiment a quarter of a century ago as'quite cool' and'good fun'. 'At the time nobody had done anything like that,' he told MailOnline.

Video emerged last week of a man getting the QR code from his Tesco Clubcard tattooed on his wrist, so he never missed out on a bargain again. Dean Mayhew paid £200 to get his wrist permanently inked with the code at a tattoo parlour in Chessington, south-west London. The 30-year-old had become tired of missing out on bargains by forgetting his clubcard so decided to make sure he had it on him at all times. Video shows the tattooed QR code failing to scan at a self-service checkout, but working with a handheld scan gun at the counter. Mayhew has become one of the newest members of a growing global community known as the biohackers, or'grinders'.