Drugs that were originally developed to treat diseases are also being used to improve the mental performance of healthy people. This raises numerous ethical, legal and social questions, especially because the effects and risks are still largely unclear. In a discourse project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, we are investigating which medical and ethical frames journalists use to report on the performance enhancement of the human brain (‘brain doping’). The project is headed by Prof Dr Nicola Erny, Darmstadt University of Applied Science.