DARPA’s CAPP’s current goal is to discover biotechnological methods that allow soldiers to function without food or sleep for up to 7 days
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), often known as the “mad scientist wing” (Gayle, 2012) of the DoD, has allocated an annual budget of $2 billion to several different projects all working towards building a supersoldier( Posel, 2013, para. 1). The main hope for accomplishing such a feat lies in genetic engineering,
DARPA’s Continuous Assisted Performance Program’s current goal is to discover biotechnological methods that allow soldiers to function without food or sleep for up to seven days (Seal, 2003).
Scientists have looked to the animal kingdom for these answers, with a particular interest in bottlenose dolphins and the sled dogs of the Iditarod. Sam Ridgway, Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Cambridge and President of the National Marine Animal Foundation, is conducting research to discover how dolphins remain vigilant for extended durations of time. Scientists have found that these mammals have to ability to practice unihemispheric sleep (Castro, 2003). The phenomena is that while one hemisphere of the brain is asleep, the other half remains alert. When tired, the dolphin simply wakes up the now refreshed portion of its brain while the weary section goes to sleep. Studies starring two bottlenose dolphins have repeatedly demonstrated the animals’ ability to last five days in this state with no decrease in activity or attentiveness. By determining which genes make this inherent trait possible, DARPA hopes to trigger the same ability in its soldiers
DARPA is also attempting to alter the genes that control the body’s metabolism (Posel, 2013, para. 5).
By modifying the rate at which fat is converted into pure energy, soldiers could, in theory, go without food for days. The most promising avenue of inquiry is a project investigating the Huskies and Malamutes of the Iditarod and how they are capable of running thousands of miles without developing extreme debility. The head of the project, Dr. Michael S. Davis, professor of Veterinary Physiology at Oklahoma State University, has discovered that these dogs reserve their fat and glycogen stores by spontaneously changing their metabolic rates. This capability allows the animals to run 100 miles a day with a slowed metabolism similar to the one assumed when sleeping; in less than 24 hours, they are able to switch back to their usual metabolic rate, one that is similar to a man’s (Robson, 2008). If this genetic trait could be adapted to humans, soldiers would have insurmountable endurance and stamina on the battlefield.
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