Super Soldiers

[Balandar]

http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-...21m.html#item18

"Super Soldiers"

Technology Review (10/02) Vol. 105, No. 8, P. 44; Talbot, David

The U.S. military is investing $50 million in a project that seeks to enhance the performance and capabilities of soldiers through nanotechnology. MIT earned this contract after demonstrating actual products, such as an "artificial muscle" that could be used to bind wounds or increase strength; a microscopic chemical sensor; and optical threads that could be applied to remote infrared communication. The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies that MIT is founding with the grant will act as a testbed where distinct technologies can be brought together. The institute plans to have nanotech applications that can be added to existing military systems ready in five years, while integrating them all could take 10 years or longer. A major goal of the institute is to embed strength into uniforms through such technologies as the artificial muscle, which is composed of an electroactive polymer whose shape and length can be adjusted by electrical voltage; a person wearing a uniform with 1.4 kilograms of this material could conceivably lift 80 kilograms to a height of one meter, and the incorporation of carbon nanotubes will reduce electrical resistance, allowing such feats to be performed rapidly. MIT chemist Tim Swager has developed a prototype sensor that uses conductive nanoscopic polymer wires to take readings of nitric oxide concentrations in a person's breath, a critical first step toward remote health monitoring systems. Meanwhile, the optical threads have an organic/inorganic coating that can selectively reflect or absorb specific wavelengths of light, which could lead to an "optical bar code" that soldiers could use to identify friends using night vision goggles. The most formidable challenge will be integrating all these nanotechnologies, and MIT partner DuPont is researching new nano-integration techniques that solve the nanomaterials' inherent incompatibility with each other.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/talbot1002.asp