Biosensors from programmable viruses; increased endurance at the molecular level; conscious robots making decisions based on conflicting information; Atomic-sized nanorobots conquering deadly diseases - this is not a review of a new science fiction book, but the content of a DARPA report.
DARPA doesn't just use scientific knowledge to create new technologies - it sets itself radically innovative challenges and develops areas of knowledge that will help solve these challenges. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA was created in 1958 after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into space. This came as a complete surprise to the Americans, and the mission of DARPA was to "prevent surprises", as well as to stay ahead of other states in terms of technology. DARPA doesn't just use scientific knowledge to create new technologies - it sets itself radically innovative challenges and develops areas of knowledge that will help solve these challenges.
The annual budget of DARPA is $ 3.2 billion, the number of employees does not exceed several hundred. How does this small organization manage to create such things as a drone, an M-16 rifle, infrared optics, GPS and the Internet? Anthony J. Tether - head of DARPA from 2001-2009 - highlights the following reasons for its effectiveness:
1. World-class interdisciplinary team of staff and performers. DARPA is looking for talent in industry, universities, laboratories, bringing together experts in theoretical and experimental fields;
2. Outsourcing of support staff;
3. Flat, non-hierarchical structure ensures free and fast exchange of information;
4. Autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic obstacles;
5. Project orientation. The average project duration is 3-5 years.
The creation of a super-soldier - faster, stronger, more resilient, susceptible, resistant to disease and stress - is the dream of the military of the whole world. DARPA's success in this area is remarkable. Let's consider her projects in more detail.
Biological adaptation - mechanism and implementation
(Biological Adaptation, Assembly and Manufacturing)
The project studies the ability of living organisms to adapt to a wide range of external and internal conditions (temperature differences, sleep deprivation) and uses adaptation mechanisms to create new bio-interactive restorative materials, both biological and abiotic. In 2009, a mathematical model of a bone fracture was performed and a material was developed that completely repeats the mechanical properties and internal structure of a real bone.
Tendon (left) and bone (right)
In 2009, a mathematical model of a bone fracture was performed and a material was developed that completely repeats the mechanical properties and internal structure of a real bone.
After that, an absorbable liquid adhesive was created to restore bone in fractures and injuries, and it is being tested on animals. If one injection of this glue is enough for quick healing of a fracture, there is a hope that over time the treatment of other diseases will be radically simplified.
Nanostructures in biology
(Nanostructure in Biology)
The prefix "nano" means "one billionth part" (for example, seconds or meters), in biology, "nanostructures" means molecules and atoms.
Sensor-equipped spy insect
This DARPA project creates nanobiological sensors for external use and nanomotors for internal use. In the first case, nanostructures attach to spy insects (record information, control movement); in the second, they are placed in the human body for its diagnosis and treatment, and it was these nanorobots in the blood that the futurologist Kurzweil spoke about when he predicted the complete fusion of man and machine by 2045.
DARPA scientists achieve the desired properties of nanostructures (especially proteins) not by experiments under a microscope, but by mathematical calculations.
Human-controlled neurodevices
(Human Assisted Neural Devices)
The program develops a theoretical framework for understanding the language of the brain and seeks answers from neuroscience, computational sciences, and new materials sciences. Paradoxically, in order to understand the language of the brain, scientists prefer to encode it.
An artificial neuron is a mathematical function that reproduces in a simplified form the function of a nerve cell in the brain; the input of one artificial neuron is connected to the output of another - neural networks are obtained. One of the founders of cybernetics, Warren Sturgis McCulloch, demonstrated half a century ago that neural networks (which are, in fact, computer programs) are capable of performing numerical and logical operations; they are considered a type of artificial intelligence.
Neuron - structural unit of the brain
Usually, fans of neural networks follow the path of increasing the number of neurons in them, DARPA has gone further - and has modeled short-term memory.
In 2010, DARPA worked on decoding short-term and long-term memory in primates, in 2011 it plans to produce neurointerfaces that stimulate and record several channels of neural activity in the brain at once.
The "memory code" will allow to restore memory in the damaged brain of a soldier. Who knows, maybe this way of coding and recording human memory will help people of the future leave their aging bodies without regret and move into artificial ones - perfect and durable?
Wireframe Tissue Engineering
(Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineering)
Until recently, bioartificial organs were grown on a three-dimensional scaffold taken from animals or from a human donor. Karsas was cleared of donor cells, inoculated with the patient's stem cells and did not cause rejection in the latter during transplantation.
Mouse embryonic stem cell
When organs and tissues are grown within the framework of the Frameworkless Tissue Engineering program, their shape is regulated by a non-contact method, for example, by a magnetic field. This allows you to bypass the limitations of scaffold bioengineering and makes it possible to simultaneously control a variety of cell and tissue types. DARPA's experiments on the implantation of multicellular skeletal muscle grown by the frameless method were successful.
Embryonic stem cell under a microscope
Does this mean that now DARPA has a free hand to grow bio-artificial organs of the most unimaginable species and forms, including those not found in nature? Stay tuned!
Programmable matter
(Programmable Matter)
Origami micro-robot, folds and unfolds on command
"Programmable Matter" develops a new functional form of matter, the particles of which are capable of assembling into three-dimensional objects on command. These objects will have all the properties of their usual counterparts, and also be able to independently "disassemble" to the original components. Programmable matter also has the ability to change its shape, properties (for example, electrical conductivity), color, and much more.
Breakthrough in biological and medical technology
(Breakthrough Biological and Medical Technologies)
The main objective of the program: the use of microsystem technologies (electronics, microfluids, photonics, micromechanics) for a whole range of achievements - from cellular manipulations to means of protection and diagnostics. Microsystem technologies have reached sufficient maturity and sophistication today; DARPA intends to use them to increase the speed of isolation, analysis and editing of the cellular genome by several tens of times.
DNA is a nucleic acid that stores genetic information
The goal of the project is to select only one cell from a large population, capture it, make the necessary changes in its DNA, and also, if necessary, multiply. The development has the widest range of applications - from protection against biological weapons to understanding the nature of malignant tumors.
New knowledge about the interaction of photons with the tissues of the mammalian nervous system will make it possible to create photonic microimplants that will restore the sensory and motor function of people with spinal cord injury. Protective hearing devices for soldiers will also be created that will improve their hearing while drowning out loud sounds of gunfire. These devices will reduce the incidence of hearing impairment and loss on the battlefield unprecedentedly.
Synthetic biology
(Synthetic Biology)
The program develops revolutionary biological materials that can be used in chemical and biological sensors, biofuel production, and neutralization of pollutants. The program is based on the creation of algorithms for biological processes that allow the creation of biological systems of unsurpassed complexity.
Stem cell on a frame
In 2011, it is planned to create technologies that will allow computers to learn, draw conclusions, apply knowledge gained from previous experience and intelligently respond to things that they have never encountered before. New systems will have exceptional reliability, autonomy, self-tuning, cooperate with a person and do not require him to intervene too often.
It is hoped that DARPA will invest in its intelligent computers a program of tolerance towards people who, unlike artificial intelligence, do not always behave rationally and logically.
Self-supporting learning
(Bootstrapped Learning)
Computers will acquire the ability to study complex phenomena in the same way as humans do: with the help of special curricula containing concepts of an increasing level of complexity. Successful study of new material will depend on the assimilation of knowledge of the previous level. For training, tutorials, examples, behavior patterns, simulators, links will be used. This is extremely important for autonomous military systems, which must not only understand what to do and why, but also understand in which cases it is more inappropriate to do it.
Reliable robotics
(Robust Robotics)
BigDog mobile robot diagram
Advanced robotics technologies will enable autonomous platforms (an example of an autonomous platform - BigDog) to perceive, understand and model their environment; move around unpredictable, heterogeneous and dangerous terrain; handle objects without human assistance; make intelligent decisions in accordance with programmed goals; collaborate with other robots and work as a team. These abilities of mobile robots will help soldiers in a variety of conditions: in the city, on the ground, in the air, in space, under water.
The main tasks of a mobile robot are: independently perform tasks in the interests of a soldier, navigate in space even in the absence of GPS, move through difficult terrain, which can be mountains, partially destroyed or full of debris and debris of the road. It is also planned to teach the robot to behave in a changing environment, improving its vision and understanding of the environment; he can even predict the intentions of other moving objects. The clutter and noise do not distract the mobile robot from the movement, it always maintains its composure when another robot cuts it off on the road.
BigDog Mobile Robot Test
Robots have already been created that can run at the speed of a person, as well as robots with four wheels and two hands (each has five fingers, like humans). The next generation of robots will also have the sense of touch.
Bio-imitative computers
(Biomimetic Computing)
The processes occurring in the brain of a living creature are modeled and implemented in a "cognitive artifact", the artifact is placed in a robot - a representative of a new generation of autonomous adaptive machines. He will be able to recognize images, adjust his behavior depending on external conditions and have the ability to cognize and learn.
Artificially modeled neural network
In 2009, a million neurons were already modeled, as well as the process of spontaneous formation of neural groups with short-term memory. A robot similar to a bee has been created, capable of reading information from the outside world and acting in it; the robot was wirelessly connected to a group of computers simulating the nervous system.
In 2010, DARPA has already modeled 1 million thalamocortical neurons; this type of neuron is located between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex and is responsible for transmitting information from the senses. The task is to improve the models of neural networks and teach them to make decisions based on information about the environment, as well as "internal values".
The task for 2011 is to create an autonomous robot with a simulation of the nervous system, which will be able to select three-dimensional objects from changing pictures.
The author of this material with a sinking heart follows the evolution of robots and progress in the field of modeling neural networks, since the day is not far away when the combination of these technologies will allow the human consciousness to be transferred into the robot's body (which, with timely repair, can exist indefinitely).
Alternative therapy
(Unconventional Therapeutics)
The project develops unique, unconventional approaches to protecting soldiers from a wide range of naturally occurring and engineered pathogens. It turned out that the invention of new drugs is less effective in this fight than the means of strengthening the human immune system.
Immunity cells in the human intestinal epithelium
Using a mathematical and biochemical approach, the researchers focused on the invention of radically new, fast and inexpensive methods of producing proteins with desired properties, including monoclonal antibodies (a type of cells in the immune system). New technologies will reduce the production time of vaccines from several years (and even, in some cases, decades) to weeks.
So, with the help of the apparatus of the artificial human immune system, a vaccine against the swine flu (H1N1) epidemic was created in a short time.
On the agenda are survival in case of fatal diseases until immunity is developed or appropriate treatment is received, as well as the need to develop temporary protection against diseases from which a person has no immunity at all.
Plans for 2011 include innovative approaches to countering any known, unknown, natural or artificial pathogens, as well as demonstrating that the use of developed technologies increases the lethal dose of a pathogen by 100 times.
External protection
(External Protection)
This program is developing various means of protecting soldiers from chemical, biological and radiological attacks. One of the successfully proven materials is a self-cleaning chemical agent based on polyurethane. New types of fabrics are under development for chemical protection suits, in which the body can "breathe" and carry out heat exchange, being behind a chemically impermeable outer shell.
Who knows, perhaps, in suits made of such fabrics, a person will soon be able to comfortably exist under water or on other planets?
Target-adaptive chemical sensors
(Mission-Adaptable Chemical Sensors)
Modern sensors cannot yet combine sensitivity (the unit of measurement is the number of particles per trillion) and selectivity (that is, the ability to distinguish between molecules of different types).
This program aimed to create a chemical sensor that would circumvent this limitation while being portable and easy to use. The results exceeded expectations - a sensor was created, the highest sensitivity of which is combined with exceptional selectivity (practically no errors when testing with mixtures of different gases).
A chemical sensor that diagnoses lung cancer by breathing
If DARPA also reduces the size of its revolutionary multisensor to an atomic level (nanotechnology allows), it will be able to monitor its owner's health around the clock. It would be nice if the sensor would also schedule appointments and order food online (in the latter case, there is a danger that it chooses broccoli and orange juice instead of beer and pizza).
Reconfigurable structures
(Reconfigurable Structures)
Soft materials have been developed that can move, as well as change shape and size, and robots with appropriate properties have been created from them. New materials have also been used to make leg and arm pads (magnets and thorns) to allow climbing over 25 feet (about 9 meters) walls. It is not yet clear how soft robots and new climbing devices will extend human life, but there is no doubt that they will diversify it and, possibly, lead to the emergence of new sports, and those who want to save on train tickets and housing can do it. attached to the ceiling.
Bioderivative materials
(Bioderived Materials)
The area of interest of this program extends to the discovery of biomolecular materials with unique electrical and mechanical properties. New methods of biocatalysis and creation of bio-templates for peptides, viruses, filamentous bacteriophages have been investigated.
Investigated original surfaces that have customizable properties: texture, hygroscopicity, absorption, reflection / transmission of light. Hybrid organic-inorganic structures with programmable properties are under development, which will form the basis for the creation of high-performance sensors, as well as other devices with unique properties.
Neovision-2
The vision of humans and animals has exceptional capabilities: recognition, classification and study of new objects takes only a fraction of a second, while computers and robots still have great difficulty. The Neovision-2 program is developing an integrated approach to developing the ability of machines to recognize objects by reproducing the structure of the visual pathways in the mammalian brain.
The aim of the work is to create a cognitive sensor capable of collecting, processing, classifying and transmitting visual information. The algorithm for transmitting visual signals of mammals has already been clarified, and a device is being developed that can recognize more than 90% of objects in 10 different categories in 5 seconds.
Further work on the sensor is aimed at reducing its size (it should become comparable to the human visual apparatus), increasing its strength and reliability. Ultimately, the sensor should be able to recognize objects of more than 20 different categories in less than 2 seconds, at a distance of up to 4 km.
Obviously, DARPA will not stop there, and the next sensor will already surpass the ability of human vision.
Neurotechnology
(Neuroscience Technologies)
Non-invasive neurointerface
The program uses the latest advances in neuropsychology, neuroimaging, molecular biology and cognitive sciences to protect the cognitive functions of a soldier exposed to daily stress, both physical and mental. The harsh conditions on the battlefield degrade such important abilities as memory, learning, decision-making, multitasking. Thus, the fighter's ability to react quickly and adequately drops sharply.
The long-term effects of this kind of stress - both molecular and behavioral - are still poorly understood. The neurotechnology program uses the latest developments in related sciences, as well as neurointerface technologies, developing molecular models of the effects of acute and chronic stress on humans and finding ways to protect, maintain and restore the soldier's cognitive functions.
At the molecular and genetic level, DARPA studies four main types of stress (mental, physical, illness and sleep deprivation), how it can be accurately measured, and the mechanisms of adaptation to stress and inadequate response to it.
In 2009, the use of advances in neuroscience reduced the speed of training of soldiers by 2 times. Methods are being developed to improve the effectiveness of learning, improve attention and working memory; neural interfaces should become faster and easier to use.
Biodesign
(BioDesign)
Biodesign is the use of the functionality of living systems. Biodesign takes advantage of the powerful insights of nature, while eliminating the unwanted and accidental consequences of evolutionary development through molecular biology and genetic engineering.
The program under such an innocuous name studies - neither more nor less - the mechanism of transmission of the signal of cell death and the ways of silencing this signal. In 2011, colonies of regenerating cells will be created that can exist indefinitely, the report says; their DNA will contain a special code that protects against counterfeiting, as well as something like a serial number, "like a pistol."
I would like to believe that Chinese hackers will still manage to break the security code of immortal cells, release them on the market in large quantities and make them available to everyone.
Reliable neural interface
(Reliable Neural-Interface Technology)
Brain implant nanocoating
The program is engaged in the development and deepening of technology that extracts information from the nervous system and transfers it to "devices for increasing degrees of freedom" (degree-of-freedom machines), artificial limbs, for example. The neurointerface is not a new technology, and it has managed to cause disappointment for many that it cannot yet surpass the mechanisms invented by nature. But DARPA is not discouraged, studies the peripheral nervous system, expands the number of channels to increase the amount of information transmitted through the neurointerface and develops fundamentally new types of these devices. In 2011, it is planned to make a neural interface with one hundred channels, while no more than one should fail in a year.
Immortal cells, genome editing, artificial organs and tissues, immunity that works without failures, materials with fundamentally new properties, artificial intelligence, conscious robots and programs - it seems that each DARPA project in its own way approaches a radical extension of human life, in protein whether in a body, or in an artificial one.
Rugged, humanoid, immortal - maybe this is what cyborgs will look like in 2045?
The booming neural network modeling is setting the stage for the transfer of consciousness to another body, and robotics are creating ever more perfect bodies. Perhaps biologists will be ahead of mathematicians and physicists, and genome editing, removing from DNA random, unnecessary and dangerous sections that have accumulated in it during evolution, will eventually become as common and accessible as going to a hairdresser.
Combining all these technologies together will be like a chain reaction, generating all new breakthroughs in science. DARPA has enough knowledge, skills and money to do this. But why does the military need an immortal soldier who will outlive both his commanders and his creators?
An immortal person is a project equal in its idealism to space exploration, its fatefulness, perhaps, has no equal at all, and the resources required for implementation are insignificant in comparison with the result.
Aristotle, Hegel and Darwin systematized the knowledge collected by many generations of their predecessors, which few people remember. Knowledge about chemical elements has been accumulating for centuries - Mendeleev summarized them in his famous table and went down in history. “If I saw further than others, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of the titans,” Isaac Newton liked to repeat.
Scattered technologies that bring us closer to immortality await someone who will bring them together and unite them with a common goal. I would like Russia to do this - a country in search of its identity, where, in spite of everything, the scientific school is still strong and idealists are not extinct.
