DARPA Offers No Food for Thought

frank249 writes "Wired News has an article outlining the US Defense Advanced Research Projects agency's (DARPA) research into ways to keep soldiers fighting for up to 5 days without food. The DARPA project, called 'Metabolic Dominance' or 'peak soldier performance' is part of a wider, future-facing Pentagon research push to develop grunts who are pretty much immune to normal human demands. Perhaps they should call this the Universal Soldier project?"

Comments

Scary idea

[Mick Ohrberg]

I read the jokes about Universal Soldier, super soldiers etc etc...but once we start down that path, how far are we from genetically engineered soldiers?

Civilian benefits

[RobertB-DC]

Putting aside any military/war/ethics concerns, there are several interesting civilian benefits that jump out from the article:

* "But [burning fat] for extended periods can produce toxins and can dial down the amount of energy the brain receives. Darpa wants to see if there are ways to burn fats without the side effects."

There's a mega-million-dollar industry in burning off fat, mostly by ingesting snake oil products. Obvious spinoffs here.

* "Mitochondria supplies energy to the cells; the agency would like to see if the powerhouses could be temporarily increased."

Again, weight loss... but beyond that, aren't there metabolism-related illnesses that this would help cure?

* "Increased body heat can boost the production of certain proteins, and these can trigger apoptosis -- programmed cellular death. Darpa wants to find a way to control these proteins..."

Programmed cellular death is the two-edged sword of middle and old age. If it doesn't happen at all, you can get cancer. But if it happens faster than cellular reproduction, you get aging. Any research into this topic will help on both counts.

* "...anaerobic metabolism produces lactic acid -- which is why you feel your biceps burn after lifting dumbbells. Scientists wonder if production of the acid can be slowed or dissipated quicker."

This sort of advance would be snapped up by athletes, but you can also imagine the benefits for others who exert themselves regularly -- from firefighters to construction workers. And exercise is another way to lose weight... though it's laziness, not muscle pain, that keeps *me* from working on my spare tire.

* "And the agency is looking at nutraceuticals, natural products and traditional nutritional supplements to give the body what it requires when there's no food around."

Well, that sounds like the meal-in-a-pill that's been bounced around for a hundred years, from the World's Fair to Willy Wonka. I hear they still have problems with the blueberry dessert.

And speaking of dessert...

* "...$900,000 grant to examine the effects of echinacea and other plants. He believes extracts from the herb can be added to rations -- and that should give soldiers an extra oomph."

Be careful with those herbs... the military wants to eliminate the need for food, but some herbs are known to cause the opposite effect!

There are more pressing needs first

[Anonymous Coward]

Teach them how to maintain peace, not war.

Seriously, if the US had more civil protection training, Iraq would be a safer place.

This isn't a rant against anyone in the US armed forces - they don't get to choose their training, and I'm certain no-one in the US forces would tell them their troops are so poorly trained in those areas.

Spending billions on finding ways to stop soldiers pooing and getting hungry isn't going to stop people suicide-bombing checkpoints next month. Decent training for the job at hand will, however.

You can't solve problems by throwing money at them.

(ps. posting AC as you can never tell how USans react when discussing their armed forces - no offense)

Obvious non-military applications

[Futaba-chan]

While this research is for the military for use on the front lines, there's some definite non-military value to this, if it's at all feasible. I do a lot of "ultralight" backpacking, in which one strives to keep the weight that one carries below ten kilograms -- less, if it can be managed. Even when carrying "dense" high-energy foods, meals for one day on the trail take 1 1/2-2 pounds, and on very long and arduous trips such as thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, it becomes difficult or impossible to carry enough nutrition to replace what you're burning. Even if all that came out of this effort were higher-calorie rations for less weight, that would really help, assuming that the cost could be kept down enough.

Even more importantly, this could be useful in disaster relief situations, especially where the transportation infrastructure is damaged or there's still a dangerous condition that limits the number or type of vehicles that can get in to the affected area. A helicopter or a HMMWV or an armored vehicle could be used to carry emergency supplies to the victims of a disaster, or to beseiged civilians in a war zone.

Need for fatter soldiers?

[G4from128k]

Although DARPA might rejigger people's appetites and metabolism to avoid the need for food, they can't avoid the the physical constraints of conservation of energy. Even if a soldier is just waiting in a fox hole, they need 2000 calories per day of energy. If the fighting is intense (the time when no eating is possible) then they might need more tha 5000 calories per day of energy.

This means a soldiers needs between 10,000 and 25,000 of energy reserves for a 5-day stint. This means that these soldiers wil need 3 to 7 pounds of excess body fat (more if the soldiers is expected to last several rounds of 5-day food deprivation). Without excess body fat, the body will start mateabolizing muscle tissue and that won't be very good for military readiness.

Maybe all those overweight American kids might make good soldiers after all.

Re:What a Waste

[wan-fu]

Ah, waste perhaps, but perhaps not. With every research initiative, many spin-offs that are semi-related to the original work are created. Who knows what researchers may find as a result of trying to do this kind of research. Many of the great discoveries in science in the past have come from accidents or mistakes in the process of research. Or, sometimes, military research goes directly into the commercial market: GPS, nightvision, etc.

Re:What a Waste

[YanceyAI]

Not that I'm condoning the military-industrial complex and high spending, but MANY unexpected scientic breakthroughs come from all sorts of research.

It is possible that this research could lead to the development of a drug that controls diabetes and heart disease. Imagine if they found a substance that turned out to be a safe and effective weightloss drug--being overweight is the leading cause of numerous health issues. Americans are fat and it's costing us billions in health care, increased mortality, and lost productivity.

Also, the DoD is currently funding a project at my university to help detect landmines in the soil to protect foot soldiers-- which ultimately will have a major impact on humanitarian work.