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Posts under ‘Military and Defense’

Military explores creation of immortal synthetic organisms equipped with an off-switch

I’m trying to figure out if this is really cool, really scary, or both: As part of its budget for the next year, Darpa is investing $6 million into a project called BioDesign, with the goal of eliminating “the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement.” The plan would assemble the latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, [...]

GeekDad asks: “When do the machines take over?”

Curtis Silver, better known as Wired’s “GeekDad,” looks at our current level of technological progress, where we’re set to go in the near future, and can’t help but ask when humanity is going to face Judgment Day (well, almost). While that computer was built for a particular function and with the best intentions in mind, [...]

Video games benefit adults, says U.S. Office of Naval Research

We all know video games are a waste of time and rot your brain, right? Not so, says the U.S. Office of Naval Research. In fact, adult gamers can see increased “perceptual abilities,” increased short-term memory, longer focus and expanded field of vision compared to non-gamers. Ray Perez, a program officer at the ONR’s warfighter [...]

Fuel cell to power military exoskeleton for 72 hours

With the extremely heavy packs modern soldiers are expected to carry (upwards of 150 pounds), a robotic exoskeleton that  provides support and improves mobility makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, these exoskeletons require a lot of power to function – power that has been provided in the past via gasoline engines or traditional lithium-ion batteries. Gas engines [...]

The transhuman U.S. Navy of 2030

The Navy Times is looking at what the future holds for the wettest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the sailor of 2030 could be far more enhanced than those of today, boasting surgeries and bionic implants that enable them to see in the dark or control devices through thought: Surgical enhancements may be [...]