Technophobes have warned for years about what will happen once we all have mechanical parts. Will computer viruses invade and disrupt our cyborg components, giving hackers access to our information or even the ability to control us? To answer that question in part, a British scientist recently became the first human to be “infected” with a computer virus.

Dr. Mark Gasson of Reading University purposely infected the RFID chip implanted in his hand with a computer virus. According to Dr. Gasson, the virus was able to be picked up by the machines that read his implanted chip. Gasson’s study suggests that viruses could one day be passed between implants in one body or even from one individual to another. There is no threat to current cyborgs, though – the research is simply highlighting what may come to pass in our tech-enhanced future.