Mikhail Raduga Claims to Have Embedded a Chip in His Head to Control Lucid Dreams
Novosibirsk, Russia — It sounds like something ripped straight from a sci-fi movie: A Russian man allegedly drilled a hole into his own skull and implanted an electrode, all in the name of controlling his dreams.
It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder how far people might go to push the boundaries of science—or maybe just curiosity.
Now, details of this extraordinary experiment have emerged, leaving many around the globe both stunned and fascinated.
Claims of Self-Surgery
In mid-July, images began circulating on Telegram that purported to show a man from the Russian city of Novosibirsk performing a bizarre and dangerous procedure on himself.
According to the Siberian news channel Mash Siberia, the individual used a household drill to pierce his skull and implant a microchip.
The supposed aim? To tinker with his own dreams from the inside out.
The story hit social media platforms with a jolt. In a July 20 post, Mash Siberia, the Siberian subsidiary of Russia’s Mashnews Telegram channel, shared graphic images that allegedly show the aftermath of this unconventional DIY surgery.
Soon after, many onlookers found themselves double-checking the calendar to see if it was April Fools’ Day. It wasn’t.
Identifying the Man Behind the Drill
The individual has been identified—at least on his Twitter account—as Michael Raduga.
Raduga posted a series of tweets describing the procedure, saying he studied YouTube videos of neurosurgeons and decided to replicate their work right in his own home.
It was a move that some might see as recklessness fueled by technological intrigue.
Raduga is no random thrill-seeker, at least on paper. He’s an author and founder of an organization called the Phase Research Center, which, according to its website, explores out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming, and astral projection.
If you ever thought dream control was just a flight of fancy, Raduga’s research basically aims to prove that our mental landscapes are far more pliable than we assume.
But even those who share an interest in lucid dreaming didn’t see thiscoming.
Tweets and Graphic Evidence
The Telegram post that triggered widespread attention quoted Raduga saying, “I bought a drill, drilled a hole in my head and implanted an electrode in my brain.”
Accompanying those words were images so graphic and so jarring that many social media users were quick to label them “nightmare fuel.”
Although there’s been no official verification from government authorities, the pictures certainly looked disturbing: a man with bandages around his head, blood-stained medical dressings, and even an X-ray that appeared to show an electrode in his skull.
Raduga also shared some of these images on his own Twitter feed.
Alongside them, he described nearly dying from blood loss, saying that the operation was more gruesome than he anticipated.
Yet in the same breath, he proclaimed that the potential for “future dream control technologies” outweighs the inherent risks.
Needless to say, public reaction ranged from horrified to strangely intrigued.
Hospitalization and Recovery
According to reports, Raduga was rushed to the hospital after his self-performed neurosurgery went awry.
It might sound obvious that drilling into your own head isn’t exactly the safest do-it-yourself project—but the extent of the danger became all too real for Raduga once his skull was breached and blood was lost.
He reportedly received medical care for his injuries, though the details of his recovery remain somewhat murky.
Yet, in a twist that only adds to the oddness, Raduga kept tweeting updates about his condition.
In one of his posts from June 20—dated about a month after the self-operation—he’s shown with extensive bandages wrapped around his head.
“They say that in order to start a new stage of life, you first need to free your head,” he joked, revealing that the homemade implant had already been removed.
A Man on a (Lucid) Mission
If you take a deep dive into Raduga’s background, you realize this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea.
He’s been obsessed with the concept of lucid dreaming for years, leading the Phase Research Center and touting theories on how humans can control their dream experiences.
In some spiritual or esoteric circles, lucid dreaming is a practice that involves becoming aware of your dream state and, theoretically, manipulating it.
Raduga’s interest, however, seems more technological and less mystical.
According to him, hooking up an electrode directly to the brain’s motor cortex during sleep might open entirely new frontiers.
And that’s precisely what he claims he’s done.
“On May 17, 2023, I performed by myself trepanation, electrode implantation, and electrical stimulation of my brain’s motor cortex,” he tweeted, adding that the procedure was aimed at “testing brain stimulation during lucid dreaming.”
BRAIN IMPLANT FOR LUCID DREAMING
— Michael Raduga (@MichaelRaduga) June 28, 2023
For the first time in history, we conducted direct electrical stimulation of the motor cortex of the brain during REM sleep, lucid dreams, and sleep paralysis. The results open up fantastic prospects for future dream control technologies. pic.twitter.com/qypqV6ntyV
Whether or not Raduga actually succeeded in controlling his dreams is still up in the air.
Let’s be frank: This is no double-blind, peer-reviewed study. Still, one can’t deny the ambition.
Raduga has said that he prepared extensively by watching neurosurgery videos, learning about human physiology, and scouring the internet for any clue on how to make this improbable experiment a reality.
It’s the stuff that would make any medical professional cringe and shout, “Don’t try this at home!”
Not Exactly Doctor-Approved
As you might guess, Raduga is not a medical professional. He has no neurosurgery qualifications, and there’s a reason the rigorous training to become a brain surgeon can take well over a decade.
This detail alone has critics raising eyebrows—and with good reason.
If you ask most neurosurgeons, they’ll say that any attempt at self-brain surgery is beyond reckless. One slip could cause irreversible damage or even death.
In an interview with Mail Online, Raduga acknowledged these dangers.
“I am glad I survived but I was ready to die,” he said, painting a picture of a man who views himself as a pioneer, forging paths no one else dares to tread.
He added that while people might see his stunt as a form of entertainment, he envisions it as a stepping stone to helping those who are paralyzed or severely limited in their physical capabilities to still experience the richness of life through lucid dreams.
A Month-Long Experiment
For about a month, Raduga kept the implant in his skull.
It’s as bizarre a sentence to write as it is to read—someone going about their daily routine with a microchip jammed into their motor cortex, presumably in contact with living brain tissue.
Then, in late June or early July, he had the entire device removed. Was the procedure worth it? Raduga seems to think so.
Others are not so sure, but let’s face it: the story has put him in the global spotlight, even if in a somewhat notorious way.
The Unverified Nature of the Incident
Despite the flurry of images, tweets, and Telegram posts, it’s important to note that Newsweek and other international outlets have stated they could not independently verify every detail of the story.
There’s a lot of trust being placed in social media posts here.
Still, the pictures, the bandages, and what looks like an electrode-laden X-ray are enough to generate massive curiosity and speculation.
If this were a hoax, it would be an extraordinarily convincing one—and not to mention, an extremely elaborate way to fool people.
Science, Ethics, and Musk’s Neuralink
The question of using microchips or electrodes to interface with the human brain isn’t new, of course.
But it’s typically a field reserved for established scientists, medical professionals, and major tech companies.
Look no further than Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which has been touting the possibilities of brain-computer interfaces since its founding in 2016.
Neuralink’s official website describes its implant as “fully implantable, cosmetically invisible and designed to let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go.”
While that might conjure images of a future where we can type emails in our heads, the technology still has a long road ahead before it’s widely available.
In May, Neuralink received long-awaited approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct its first human tests, moving them closer to a clinical environment but still well within the realm of stringent oversight.
Raduga’s approach, on the other hand, was more akin to the Wild West of tech experimentation—no institutional backing, no official safety approval, and a procedure done in an apartment in Almaty, Kazakhstan, by a non-physician.
It’s almost the polar opposite of Musk’s path toward legal regulatory compliance, which might be why this story is capturing so much global attention.
Where Curiosity Crosses the Line
It’s easy to be swept up in the novelty of it all. A man using a household drill to insert a brain implant in hopes of controlling his dreams?
That’s top-tier internet fodder for sure. But let’s not lose sight of the inherent risks.
Neurosurgeons undergo years of training for a reason. Our skulls are an evolutionary fortress, a layer of bone that keeps our brain safe from the external world.
Breaching it without proper tools, sterile conditions, and expert skill is like playing Russian roulette, literally—especially if you’re in Russia.
So, is Raduga a visionary or a reckless dreamer? It depends on who you ask.
Some people on social media are applauding his courage to push boundaries. Others consider him lucky to be alive.
And many are simply curious: Did it work? Did he actually manage to control his dreams any better than he could before?
Opinions and Observations
From a purely personal perspective, the idea that someone might go to such extremes for the sake of exploration is part inspiring, part terrifying.
On one hand, scientific breakthroughs often come from bold experiments and leaps of faith.
On the other, the line between “fearless innovator” and “reckless daredevil” can be dangerously thin.
If I put myself in his shoes—minus the household drill—I’d probably concede that certain frontiers of the human experience aren’t meant to be tackled alone.
Still, there’s a compelling angle here regarding human ingenuity.
Imagine someone who truly believes that if they can master their own dreams, they might open doors for paralyzed individuals to live free from physical constraints—even if only in a dream state.
It’s almost like imagining the Metaverse 2.0, but in your sleep.
That’s the stuff of futuristic novels, and perhaps that’s part of what motivated Raduga.
It’s one thing to read about advanced tech possibilities, but it’s another to try them on your own.
Dream Hacking or Tech Gone Too Far?
The idea of “dream hacking” has captured the imagination of many in the tech community, especially those following developments in neuroscience and AI.
We’re in an era where people talk seriously about brain-computer interfaces, direct neural feedback, and augmenting human capabilities.
Yet, mainstream research typically involves stringent oversight, ethical review boards, and highly specialized equipment.
Raduga’s case highlights the dramatic tension between open-source curiosity—where you can learn almost anything on the internet—and the safe, regulated environment of conventional science.
We’ve all watched YouTube tutorials for smaller things: cooking a new recipe, changing a car battery, or learning a guitar chord.
But neurosurgery is a whole different realm, one that begs for professional expertise.
Let’s be real: surgical drills cost a fortune, and specialized training is non-negotiable for good reason.
Replacing all that with a household drill and some determined fervor might be one of the boldest, most alarming examples of do-it-yourself experimentation we’ve seen in recent memory.
A Future of Lucid Dreaming?
While Raduga’s story definitely reads like a sensational headline, it also raises legitimate questions about the future of lucid dreaming research.
Could we see mainstream acceptance of microchips that help people navigate their dream worlds?
Companies like Neuralink are edging closer to bridging the gap between human thought and computer interfaces.
If that technology evolves enough, we might see regulated, doctor-supervised ways to stimulate the brain for beneficial outcomes—such as assisting with speech in paralyzed individuals or alleviating certain neurological conditions.
Raduga, however, turned the dial up to eleven, presumably to test dream control without waiting for the official scientific pipeline.
His tweets paint him as someone who isn’t exactly disillusioned about the risk; he was prepared for a life-or-death scenario.
But one can’t help asking: Is it worth it? That question becomes even more pressing when we consider that he ended up in the hospital.
It also underscores the reason why we have medical boards and regulatory frameworks in place.
A Surreal Ending to a Surreal Story
For now, Raduga’s implant is out, and he’s back to normal life—if “normal” is even the right word for someone who drilled into his own head for dream research.
Newsweek and other outlets have reached out to the Phase Research Center for more information, but have yet to receive additional clarity on the entire episode.
As for Raduga himself, he’s vowed to continue exploring lucid dreaming and sleep research, though hopefully his next steps will involve fewer power tools.
The incident, though unverified officially, continues to spark conversation about how we define scientific progress and who gets to decide what is too radical.
We’re living in an era where technology and human curiosity know almost no bounds.
From Elon Musk’s neural implants to self-styled dream controllers in far-off apartments, the question of how we integrate high-tech devices with our own biology is shaping up to be one of the defining ethical quandaries of the 21st century.
