For nearly 50 years, Darpa, the U.S. military's way-out research arm, has been coming up with new inventions: the Internet, long-range drone aircraft, night vision, even the M16 rifle and the computer mouse. But a few years back, the agency decided to stop messing just with soldiers' toys -- and start trying to upgrade the soldiers themselves. Darpa began amassing a giant array of programs, meant to make our troops stronger, smarter, and more resilient than ever before.
Which is how I found myself, in a broom-closet-sized biology lab at Stanford University last fall, sweating toxically, on the verge of passing out. Read what happens next -- and find out what the hell I was doing in this picture -- in my story for the March issue of Wired, online now. And take a look at some of the other programs Darpa is developing, to turn our troops into more than they can be.
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* No "Go Pills"
* Darpa Chief Speaks
