IP: Science In the News MILITARY RESEARCHERS LOOK TO ENCOMPASS BIOLOGY

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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From: inthenews <inthenews@SIGMAXI.ORG>
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Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 10:58:37 -0400
To: SCIENCE-IN-THE-NEWS@LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Science In the News

MILITARY RESEARCHERS LOOK TO ENCOMPASS BIOLOGY
from UPI

ANAHEIM, Calif. (July 31, 2002 10:16 a.m. EDT) - The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency, long known for creating better machines and
technology, now is reapplying itself in the biological sciences area,
agency officials said at a conference Tuesday.

Putting bio-science into action could enable soldiers to stay awake for
days at a time without side effects, for example, said Michael Goldblatt,
director of DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. The work, he said, is meant to
address what many consider the biggest point of failure in today's defense
systems - the human being.

Human capabilities are fair game for augmentation, said DSO researcher
Joseph Bielitzki. Sleep - and the consequences of a lack of it - constitute
an obvious starting point for this work, he told the conference.

Researchers are focusing on ways to reduce sleep needs and the effects of
sleep deprivation, Bielitzki said. These methods include resetting or
eliminating a person's body clock, allowing a portion of the brain to rest
while the remainder continues to function, and even prompting the brain to
produce additional connections between brain cells, he said.
<http://www.nando.net/healthscience/story/483980p-3865527c.html>

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