DARPA Pentagon Biologists Pledge To Conquer Death, Spawn Synthetic Replicants And Provide The American Army With Rows Of Cyborg Disabled
In early April, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, the Pentagon's forward research wing) announced the opening of a new biotechnology division, the Biological Technologies Office. Its mission is to put biology at the service of national security, from defeating epidemics to creating synthetic soldiers. At the same time, the budget of the department for the next fiscal year was announced - $ 2.9 billion.
DARPA's status as a premier source of innovation is undeniable. The essence of the agency is to continually ensure that US military technology is always more advanced than its competitors. Some of the agency's recent initiatives include: the creation of the humanoid ATLAS robots and many other types of robotics; smart prostheses that will convey real tactile sensations; programming artificial neural networks - in fact, computers based on the cognitive functions of the human brain. Against the background of these technological wonders, taken as if exactly from the pages of the classic cyberpunk novels of the eighties, it is no longer surprising to design just some kind of self-learning supercomputer. If in the future a full-fledged artificial intelligence is created, it will not be done by IT corporations, but by the dark geniuses of the Pentagon (who, by the way, are also the progenitors of the Internet).
DARPA has paid due attention to biotechnology before, but until now they did not have a dedicated department to coordinate all research in this interdisciplinary field. This is precisely what the Biotechnology Development Authority, which was set up to "explore the ever more dynamic intersections of biology and physics," is intended to rectify.
DARPA Director Arathi Prabhakar, speaking at the end of March in front of Congressmen in the House of Representatives, said that “biology is nature's ultimate innovator, and for any agency that relies on innovation, it would be foolish not to turn to this master of complex relationships for inspiration and clues."
“Today biology takes its place among the main sciences that represent the future of defense technology … The programs of the biotechnology office range from individual cells to organisms and their populations; from the time with which the nerve signal is transmitted to the time with which a new sneeze virus after a sneeze will spread throughout the planet. The Biotechnology Office will study the extremely complex mechanisms of natural processes and demonstrate that they can be used for national defense purposes,”- said in a press release from DARPA.
Russian Planet got acquainted with the most promising programs of the new department of the department.
Ah, don't say, "Blood from a wound." This is wild
One of the priority areas of the biotechnology office's work is the high-tech rehabilitation of US military soldiers after injuries of various types. According to the US Army Institute for Surgical Research, the leading cause of death on the battlefield is blood loss. Several DARPA studies are designed to solve this problem. The military still has nothing more perfect than a simple gauze bandage to stop bleeding. Its effectiveness is extremely low, because if the blood does not stop, the bandage has to be changed almost immediately. There is no way at all to stop hidden bleeding in place. Therefore, many soldiers die not only on the battlefield, but also in transport on the way to the medical unit.
Arati Prabhakar.
Recently, startup company RevMedx announced a modified syringe that fills the wound area with 1-inch chitosan sponges that swell and block bleeding. But only external bleeding stops this way. DARPA experts went further and announced the creation of the so-called "stasis system" - so far it is only known that this is a "foam material" that stops hemorrhage even into the abdominal cavity. The FDA is soon to approve the first prototype of a portable injection device.
Even if the loss of blood cannot be avoided, another development of the department will make it not so life-threatening, saving the military from the threat of hypoxia caused by bleeding. Scientists are working on a drug based on hydrogen sulfide, the injection of which slows down the physiological processes in the body. During tests on animals, it was found that hydrogen sulfide reduces the need for organs in oxygen, an acute shortage of which causes blood loss. The injection of such a substance will significantly extend the time that a fighter can spend after fatal blood loss right on the battlefield, waiting for a transfusion. Thus, they hope in DARPA, the soldier will be able to inject himself, enter a "hibernating state" and wait for medical help bledged out - up to several days.
Disabled cyborgs
Agency employees are well aware of the almost limitless opportunities provided to them by the US authorities and do not suffer from false modesty. For example, a program for the development of advanced prostheses is called without a hitch - “Revolutionizing Prosthetics”. It was launched back in 2006, but is now completely under the control of the biotech office.
All this time, researchers have been busy designing hand prostheses, which are much more difficult from a medical and engineering point of view than artificial legs. One of the revolutionary prostheses, the Arm System Gen-3, has already been legalized by the FDA. According to the agency's website, these "advanced mechatronic limbs" were the first to come close to the functionality of real human hands. The goals of the program are even more challenging than the name. And DARPA does not hide them at all: in the future, there will be no disabled veterans in the United States, but there will be disabled people in the ranks - just robotic ones.
“As part of the Prosthetics Revolution, the functionality of upper limb prostheses is being improved so that one day servicemen who have lost their arms can return to service,” the program says.
Specific tasks include the creation of mind-controlled prostheses and neurocomputer interfaces for amputees and paralytics. On NPR's Marketplace on March 31, Arati Prabhakar said biotechnologists have already taken a huge step in this area. Advances in cortical microelectrode technology have made the connection between the nervous system and cybernetic body parts so strong that thought-controlled prostheses are gradually becoming a daily routine, and patients who cooperate are already using the Pentagon's "reliable neurointerface system." Future research "will improve the capacity of peripheral interfaces to process even more information about limb control, which will give amputees even more functionality."Neurophysiologists are working to get the signal in both directions - so that the prosthesis is not only controlled by the mind, but it itself sends tactile signals back to the nervous system, causing a sensation of genuine physical touch.
A disabled person with prosthetic robotic arms. Photo: DARPA
“We have volunteers with paralysis of all four limbs who have agreed to brain surgery. It is about placing a chip on the cortex that controls the neurons of the motor zone and redirects them to control new, highly sophisticated prosthetic robotic arms. In a sense, we have opened the door - the connection between the human brain and the rest of the world. Let your imagination run wild to see how far this will take us,”said the director of DARPA.
A separate program is dedicated to memory recovery. According to doctors, since 2000, more than 270,000 American soldiers have received head injuries of varying complexity, which have led to a deterioration or complete dysfunction of working memory. Despite the magnitude of the problem, no effective treatments currently exist. To restore their memory, the biotech office is working on a multidisciplinary neurotechnology that combines "data processing, mathematical modeling and cutting edge interfaces." The result should be an "implantable neural device" that will restore memory to soldiers by neurostimulating certain areas of the brain.
Another initiative is aimed at eliminating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, "Vietnam Syndrome"), which is extremely common among soldiers who have gone through the fighting. In the best cases, it leads to depression and migraines, in the worst - to outbursts of aggression among the returning military personnel, or suicide. Modern approaches - drugs and psychotherapy - can only alleviate the worst symptoms of this severe mental syndrome. Military doctors hope to completely defeat PTSD, too, by implanting a neurostimulator in the brain.
As part of its neuroscience research, DARPA consults (at least suggests believing so) with an expert panel on ethical, legal and social implications. Prabhakar does not exclude that some of this research will be aimed not only at rehabilitation, but also at modifying the brains of healthy fighters.
“If we understand how the brain interacts with complex systems, perhaps we will understand how exactly information should be provided to a person so that he can better assimilate it. This will be the future in which we will begin to learn radically new ways of interaction between the complexity of the human brain and the complexity of the world around us,”says the head of the innovation agency.
Human-machine interfaces may well be adapted to be controlled by robots. And if today engineers are already developing a mind-controlled civilian quadcopter, then why don't we expect military drones to be controlled via neutron interfaces from DARPA sooner or later?
Mind-controlled quadcopter.
And they created a replicant from synthetic dust
The agency is betting that the next generation of defense technology will follow the example of natural, biological life. Synthetic biology will become one of the most important areas of work of the biotechnology office - the agency expects to launch a kind of insane genetic plant for the production of previously never existed biological materials with unexplored properties based on a cocktail of living cells, proteins and DNA. The goal is to create, firstly, artificial but living supermaterials that will be used for the next generation of mechanical and electrical gadgets, and secondly, to literally create new life forms with functionality that is difficult to imagine at the moment. But this does not sound so fantastic, considering that at the end of March scientists announced the creation of the first synthetic "designer" chromosome in the history of mankind.
Bioengineers made up a substantial part of the staff of the newly opened subdivision. Since "biological engineering is a powerful technology that can affect many areas" of human life, Pentagon biologists intend to carefully prepare a theoretical basis - gradually "transforming biology into engineering practice, preparing tools, technologies, methodologies and infrastructure." Bioengineering programs in laboratories use the latest developments in synthetic biology, genomics and proteomics, which contribute to the high safety of research and the prevention of "unwanted release of microorganisms". Apparently, DAPRA has heard a lot about the dangers of a zombie apocalypse.
Despite all the precautions, bioengineers have already announced more than ambitious projects. One of the most mysterious programs runs under the tentative title Biochronicity. According to bioengineers, although "the biological clock regulates almost all functions in the human body," there is still no clear idea of how exactly they affect the cell cycle, metabolism, aging and cell death. Apparently, the department will encroach on the metabolism and aging of a person, putting them under control and greatly increasing the combat capability and endurance of soldiers - both in terms of regeneration after physical injury and immunity to disease.
Several years ago, the DARPA Biodesign program, in which the Pentagon creates no less immortal synthetic creatures, has already made a splash. The goal is to overcome the “randomness of evolution”: “Biodesign uses a system of engineering methods in combination with biotechnology and synthetic chemical technology to create new useful attributes. Biodesign will reduce the unpredictability of natural evolutionary development through genetic engineering and molecular biology. This area includes artificially directed molecular responses that increase resistance to cell death signals (…)”. In the event that the agency's plan goes awry in the most threatening scenario, as is usually the case in horror, created beings have a special trigger molecule for self-destruction, which can be activated remotely. As the author of the tech blog Motherboard writes, “Why do we need mechanical robots when you can create a replicant to participate in wars? We haven't heard much about potential Pentagon synthetic soldiers, but $ 19.3 million is still allocated to the Biodesign program next year."
A world without disease
The agency's epidemiological wing will look for ways to prevent epidemics and mitigate the consequences of a hypothetical deadly global pandemic (another popular plot of science fiction disaster films). Scientists believe that the unpredictability of disease outbreaks is a clear sign of our poor understanding of the dynamics of the emergence and spread of epidemics.
According to the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 44% of all pathogens reported over the past 20 years are RNA viruses. They are characterized by extremely high mutation rates, allowing them to adapt to a changing environment, as happened in the 2009 H1N1 (“swine flu”) pandemic. In addition, even the strongest antibiotics can become useless as infections gradually develop drug resistance, as is the case with the invincible strain of gonorrhea.
The program with the sonorous title "Prophecy" studies the evolution of viruses to predict future viral mutations. The ultimate goal is the creation of "preemptive" drugs and vaccines for diseases that may threaten humanity in the future. Biologists are going to predict viral evolution, of course, not on mathematical models, but in a completely experimental way. In fact, the agency will be engaged in breeding viruses. Dangerous pathogens will be grown in the laboratory and diagnosed at all stages of mutations through which they pass. Based on this information, it will be possible to predict in which direction this or that common disease will evolve. Virologists humbly note that in laboratory conditions they will try to repeat only those "viral mutations that have already occurred naturally and are documented" - probably to convince them that they will not accidentally create a virus that does not even exist on the planet in a natural environment. …
When asked what the biotech office has the Holy Grail, the director of DARPA summed up: “This is a new class of materials with properties that we would never have received before. This is a new way of interacting with the human brain and solving the mysteries of cognitive functions. And we are confident that there are already techniques that will allow us to outstrip the spread of infectious diseases."
