8 technologies the Pentagon is pursuing to create super soldiers
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. William Frye)
As Captain America and Iron Man prepare for their civil war, they probably don’t realize they have competition coming from the US military.
The Department of Defense wants troops with super strength, telepathy, and immunity from pain.
Here are 8 technologies the Pentagon is pursuing to create super soldiers.
1. Bulletproof clothes made of carbon chainmail
US Marine Corps.Researchers tested the potential ballistic protection of graphene by firing tiny bullets of gold at it. They found that the material was stronger, more flexible, and lighter than both the ballistic plates and the Kevlar vests troops wear. And, a million layers of the stuff would be only 1 millimeter thick.
MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies is working on an effective manufacturing method for graphene-based chainmail, potentially giving troops better protection from a T-shirt than they currently get from bulky vests.
2. Synthetic blood
ShutterstockSynthetic blood would be much more efficient than natural cells. The most promising technology being investigated is a respirocyte, a theoretical red blood cell made from diamonds that could contain gasses at pressures of nearly 15,000 psi and exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen the same way real blood cells do.
Super soldiers with respirocytes mixed with their natural blood would essentially have trillions of miniature air tanks inside their body, meaning they would never run out of breath and could spend hours underwater without other equipment.
3. Seven-foot leaps and a 25 mph spring
Cpl. Chelsea Flowers Anderson/U.S. MarinesScientists at MIT and other research universities are looking for ways to augment the human ankle and Achilles tendon with bionic boots that mimic kangaroo tendons. Humans equipped with such boots would be able to leap seven feet or more, sprint at inhuman speeds, and run all day without wearing out their muscles.
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